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Bridget Jones is a 32-year old single girl working for a publishing house in London. On New Year's Day, once again she finds herself on her own and going to her mother's annual turkey curry buffet. As any other caring mother would do, every year with no exception Bridget's mother tries to fix her up with some "bushy-haired, middle-aged bore". This time, it's a well-off divorced barrister named Mark who is a few years older and used to be the Jones' neighbor. Mrs. Jones claims that Bridget used to run naked on Mark's garden when she was about four years old though Bridget cannot remember a thing about it. The "blind date"1 does not work out well since the gloomy Mark apparently does not like this over-weighted girl who is too talkative due to the effect of some alcohol. Frustrated, Bridget decides to keep a diary in order to take control of her life and to tell truth about herself. Her first resolution is to give up alcohol, lose weight by 20 pounds, and find a nice sensible boyfriend to go out with. She also decides "not to continue to form romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuck-wits, or perverts,2 and especially will not fantasize about a particular person who embodies all these things." Unfortunately, the man she falls in love with happens to be exactly a person who embodies some of the above-mentioned features. He is her boss, editor-in-chief Daniel Cleaver who does not seem interested in her at first. One morning, Bridget finds an email message from Daniel who comments on her skirt at work in a satirical way. Annoyed, Bridget replies in a similar manner. Gradually, the two realize that they enjoy making fun of each other through emails. When Daniel asks her to host the launch ceremony3 of a new book, Bridget seeks advice from her close friends who suggest that she wear sexy dress and deliberately ignore Daniel on the occasion. However, it proves to be a disaster since her ignorance in conversing with a famous writer and her stammer4 in the opening speech make a spectacle of herself.5 What is worse, Mark is also present. In spite of the embarrassment, Daniel tells her that her speech is marvelous and post-modern, and that she is beautiful in that sexy dress. He invites her to go out for a chat while Mark looks on6 coldly. At a cafe Daniel tells Bridget that Mark, who was supposed to be the best man7 at his wedding, ran away with his fiancee, and that is why Mark acted so strangely towards him. Such a story wins Bridget's sympathy for Daniel and deepens her dislike of Mark. The evening ends up with her going to bed with Daniel. It seems that she has got the real love this time. Meanwhile, Bridget's parents are having a crisis in their marriage, in which her mother, tired of a boring sexless life, walks out on8 her father and begins to work for a TV advertising program. There she falls in love with the middle-aged host of the program. One day, Daniel takes Bridget to a country hotel for a weekend. Unexpectedly, they see Mark and his girlfriend Natasha, and feel rather awkward. On the lake near the hotel, the two couples are rowing boats ignoring each other's presence. Soon, the noisy flirtation between Daniel and Bridget turns into a farce9 with Daniel falling into the water. Natasha thinks that the two are really vulgar10 and rude while Mark just looks on coldly as usual. In the hotel room, Daniel and Bridget are enjoying themselves when Daniel receives a phone call from the United States and tells Bridget that he has to go back to prepare for the Monday meeting which is crucial to the future of the publishing house. So Bridget is left alone to spend the rest of the weekend at Mark's party. The idea of dressing herself up in a bunny's costume11 at Mark's party turns out to be another disaster. She stuns people as she looks just like a prostitute by wearing so little. Depressed, Bridget manages to get back to town earlier. Once in town, she immediately goes to Daniel's place where she is astonished to discover a naked pretty woman in Daniel's room. She is Lara from the New York office. And she has been dating Daniel for a long time. With a broken heart, Bridget begins searching for new jobs. Obviously she can no longer work in the same office with Daniel who is now engaged to Lara. After some efforts, Bridget gets a job as a reporter for a TV program called "Sit Up, Britain". The next day, she goes to Daniel's office the first thing in the morning and tells him that she quits to work for a television station. Before Daniel has time to respond, she walks out of his office in the admiring look of her colleagues. Bridget is thrilled by her action of revenge.12 Bridget's first interview for the TV program is not successful and she feels very bad. On a small party, she sees Mark and Natasha again. While others have all come in pairs, Bridget is alone, which makes her an easy target of gossip and satire. After refuting13 their irony for single career women, Bridget gets up and bids farewell to them. Just as she is about to get to the door, Mark follows her downstairs. He tells her that he likes her the way she is despite her outspoken character and her "bad" TV program. This begins to change her negative impression on Mark. The next day, Bridget is sent to interview a Turkish couple who has been trying to seek asylum14 in Britain for political reasons. When she arrives at the court that handles the case, the couple has gone and nobody gets any interview. At a corner shop,15 Bridget sees Mark who happens to be the defending lawyer for the couple. He arranges a full-length TV interview with the couple, which makes Bridget a well-known figure across the country. To celebrate both her success and her birthday, Bridget decides to invite her friends over for a dinner. Just as she is cooking a soup, Mark comes to congratulate her and gives her a hand in the kitchen. Her friends are very happy to see Bridget and Mark, a really good match in their eye. They have a good time though the soup Bridget made tastes terrible. At this moment, the doorbell rings, and Daniel enters the house with a bottle of wine in his hand. He says that he thought Bridget might be alone on her 33rd birthday. In fact, he has come to make up with16 her since Lara dumped him for his thinking of Bridget all the time. Upon such a situation, Mark decides to leave and bids farewell to Bridget. But Daniel's remark of calling him "wanker"17 irritates Mark, who demands Daniel to come out to settle their dispute. They have a fierce fight on the street, which ends up with Daniel's defeat with a bleeding nose. Bridget is shocked by Mark's violence, but she does not want to go back to Daniel, either. On Christmas Eve, moody Bridget and her father watch TV at home. Bridget tries to comfort him but fails to find the right words. As they are watching the program hosted by Bridget's mother, the doorbells buzzes and she waltzes in.18 Mrs. Jones tells her husband that she cannot get along with her hot-tempered lover and wants to return home. After moment of silence, Mr. Jones accepts her apology and embraces her. Then, Mrs. Jones asks her daughter to go to a party at Mark's. When Bridget declines, her mother tells her a sad story about Mark whose best friend shagged19 his wife and broke his heart, which is just opposite to what Daniel told her about Mark. Hurrying to Mark's place, Bridget tries to find an opportunity to talk to Mark. She apologizes to him for misunderstanding his behavior to Daniel and tells him that she likes what he is. But just as she is to express her love, the party begins and Mark's father announces that Mark is going to work in one of the top law firms in the United States with Natasha who is going to marry him in the future. Once again, Bridget loses the man she loves.
In her apartment, she is drinking Vodka20
to forget the sad fact when her friends come to invite her to go to
Paris for a change. As she packs and is about to get into their car,
Mark appears in front of her out of the blue.21
Bridget has to decline her friends' goodwill invitation, as she does
not want to lose the man she really loves. She invites Mark to her apartment
and finds an excuse to go and change into sexy underwear while letting
Mark read some magazines on the desk in the sitting room. But when Bridget
comes out from her bedroom, Mark is gone. Seeing the opened diary on
the desk, she understands everything. The page is full of negative description
about Mark. In no time, Bridget runs out of her apartment half naked
with only underwear on. She cannot afford losing her love again this
time. She runs quickly to the corner but still cannot see any sign of
Mark. Just as she feels so desperate, Mark comes out from a shop with
a new diary in his hand. Bridget apologizes for what she wrote about
him and tells him that she loves him. Mark accepts her apology and says
that he understands the function of a diary. Presenting the new one
to Bridget, Mark says that she can write her new life on it. Overjoyed,
Bridget kisses Mark on the snowing street, ignoring the amazed passers-by. |
Bridget
Jones's Diary