Author Correction: Brigitte Byankuba
It’s become a yearly winter tradition for me to watch my favorite romantic comedy—Bridget Jones’s Diary—during December. Not just because of its common correlations with the holiday season or the fact that she and I share the same first name, but because I can argue that Bridget Jones is undoubtedly one of the best-written female leads in rom-com history.
Bridget Jones’s Diary is a 2000s romantic comedy that stars Renée Zellweger in the titular role. The tale is a modern-day re-adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice”—a famous novel that’s probably our first mainstream love story centered on the “enemies to lovers trope,” which explores how the difference in social class and background shouldn’t deter people from falling in love. The movie, written by Helen Fielding and directed by Shannon Macguire, follows a more modern take on the matter that focuses on women over the age of 30 and how society expects marriage to be their biggest accomplishment in life. Our main character, Bridget, is a single, 32-year-old woman who often refers to herself as a “modern-day spinster” from external pressure for her to get married for her age.
The movie opens up with Bridget Jones talking about her very proactive, wing-woman mother who tries to set her up with same-aged singles in their location by hosting elaborate house warmings. In the movie, her mom continues this mission by hosting her annual “New Year’s Turkey-Curry Buffet,” inviting many people around her— her neighborhood, colleagues and friends. In the movie, her mother attempts to set her up with her childhood neighbor, Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth). Their first meeting, unfortunately, did not go well. Soon after their first awkward conversation, Jones overheard Darcy telling his mother, “I don’t need a blind date—especially not with a verbally incompetent spinster who smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and dresses like her mother.”
Yikes!
And of course, spoiler alert (but not-so-spoiler-alert), Jones ends up falling in love with this guy at the very end of the movie.
Double yikes.
Through this comment and this comment alone, Jones began to fall into a depressive spiral and question her future as a single woman. She ultimately names her fate as someone who would end up dying alone in her flat by getting eaten alive by Alsatians rather than ending up being happy.
After dealing with her spiral, she moves on from Darcy and falls in love with Daniel Cleaver, played by Hugh Grant. Daniel Cleaver unfortunately stands for everything she’s against. He is a commitment-phobic, workaholic, chauvinist who is her boss (also yikes) for a publishing company. Despite that, Jones is committed to the fact that Cleaver could be her dream husband and that maybe she’s gotten it all wrong.
The two spend a romantic getaway together where Jones admits that she’s in love with him, to which he responds by avoiding their planned date at her family friend’s party. It’s clear throughout their conversations and interactions that Cleaver sees Jones more as a “hook-up” rather than a significant other. It becomes even more clear after Cleaver ultimately gets exposed for cheating on Jones in plain sight. His explanation for this was that there wasn’t something between him and Jones’s relationship that was extraordinary enough to “go the extra mile,” unlike the woman he’s secretly been seeing. This puts Jones back in the depressive episode she had at the beginning of the movie.
Darcy then bumps into Jones on several different occasions: as she is messing up a book presentation, going on a romantic getaway with Cleaver, going to a costume party and attending a dinner party held by their circle of friends. She’s basically given two options—fall in love with the borderline career-threatening jerk or fall in love with the guy who claims to love her “just as she is” but is embarrassed by everything she truly stands for.
It’s a tough decision for our main protagonist.
However, it’s not.
After Daniel Cleaver dumps Jones for another woman and labels her as “unconfident,” her heartbreak affects her differently. Instead of focusing on why she wasn’t enough, Jones decides she’ll focus on taking control of her own life. It’s clear that she has an unstable work and love life due to her coworkers and love interests not taking her seriously. After deciding to make a big change in her life, Jones focuses on a variety of things to help her get into a healthy mindset. She ditches the books focused on love life and buys books focused on self-help and guidance. She begins to work out at the gym and fixes her cravings for smoking and drinking. She also levels up her career game by applying for multiple jobs in an industry she is interested in to separate herself from her toxic work environment and eventually have an opportunity to grow professionally.
I like this specific sequence of events because instead of being down in the dumps, Bridget Jones realizes that the only person who can rescue her from heartbreak and turn her life around is herself. This sequence is a complete change from who Bridget Jones was under the demise of Cleaver and Darcy, being that she was focused on herself. She documents all of her experiences, both good and bad, in her diary as an account of personal growth. Some entries are heartbreaking, but others celebrate her accomplishments on her journey of self-recovery.
The amazing thing about the film is that the character of Bridget Jones is highly relatable to many single women of all ages. Feeling like their entire lifespan is worthless because they aren’t tied down to a man. However, what the author and director don’t take into account is how she has a lot of things in her life to be proud of. She owns her own studio apartment in London—which I can imagine is excruciatingly expensive. She has an immensely strong, supportive group of friends and family who are all successful in their own different ways, and she has upgraded from her previous career as a publicist for a successful publishing house to a front-line news reporter. It’s clear that her accomplishments have been made, but yet they fail to be recognized due to her “tragic” fate as a modern-day spinster.
Toward the end of the film, Mark and Bridget grow closer. Mark shows up at Bridget’s house to help with her birthday dinner. He had earlier admitted that he liked her “just the way she is.” This moment, along with their developing relationship, feels sweet and romantic. This is why many viewers, including myself, enjoy seeing them finally get together. However, outside of the rose-colored lenses, it’s very easy to feel like their connection seems more rushed than genuine. It seems like Jones didn’t have a clear choice to begin with.
Even at the end of the movie, Darcy and Cleaver continue to fight for Bridget’s love, leaving her torn between the two. After their fight, Bridget condemns Mark’s actions and rejects Daniel, quoting his own words back at him—that she’s looking for something “extraordinary enough to go the extra mile.”
This is where the movie should have ended. Bridget should be able to choose herself or, at the very least, meet someone new—someone truly willing to go that extra mile to love her for who she is. The charm of the “Bridget Jones” series lies in Bridget herself: quirky, odd and effortlessly endearing. In the end, she deserves a partner who truly matches her energy. Instead, she is left with someone who is simply close enough.
Maybe that’s what makes “Bridget Jones” so iconic—the way so many young women, men and people in general relate to the feeling of not quite finding “the one” and instead settling for someone who’s close enough. It’s not always a bad thing, but if it reaches the point of taking away what truly makes you happy (your friends and family, your ambitions and your personality), maybe you’re better off choosing yourself instead.
I’ll still think of Bridget Jones’s Diary as one of the best romantic comedies to watch. It perfectly illustrates the witty, deadpanned humor of the Brits, the realness of relationships and finding yourself despite all that society may say about you.