The Bridges of Madison County

Dir. Clint Eastwood. 1995, 135 mins. U.S. 35mm. With Meryl Streep, Clint Eastwood, Annie Corley, Victor Slezak. Eastwood’s astonishingly beautiful adaptation of the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller moves to its own hushed rhythm, luxuriating in the exquisite human connection experienced by frustrated, Italian-born Iowa housewife Francesca Johnson (Streep) and itinerant National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), who passes through town while her husband and children are away. Working from a moving and intelligent script by Richard LaGravenese, Eastwood transforms the novel’s broader strokes into a series of delicately wrought revelations of character, patiently building a romance of equals between two middle-aged people who have the benefit of knowing their own hearts’ desires but also must play by the obligations of their carefully constructed lives. In one of her greatest roles, Streep is a marvel of subtle expressivity, and Eastwood has rarely been more appealingly down to earth. The devastating final moments in the rain-drenched car are a master class of visual storytelling, evoking the greatest of aching romantic melodrama.   

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. 

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.