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The Guardian
15-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The new Bridget Jones film shows the messy, funny, mistake-filled reality of widowhood
Bridget Jones is back and once again blazing a new path, this time as a widow. In Mad About the Boy, our eternally chaotic but lovable everywoman is navigating single parenthood, dating apps and grief. But unlike most widows in romcoms, she's not here to wither away in a beige cardigan, politely mourning until society deems it acceptable for her to love again. Instead, she's in bed with a 29-year-old park ranger named Roxster, proving that healing doesn't have to be quiet reflection – it can also look like great sex with a younger man. This is where Bridget breaks the mould. In most romantic comedies, women's grief is pitched as a problem to be solved. We must undergo a period of deep self-reflection before we are allowed back into the world of desire. We must heal, learn and then – maybe – we can be kissed under some twinkly lights at the end of the movie. Hilary Swank's character in P.S. I Love You waits for divine permission from her dead husband's letters before even thinking about dating again, whereas poor Demi Moore in Ghost is emotionally tied to Patrick Swayze for ever, choosing to simulate foreplay with a memory over intimacy with the living. But Bridget? She swipes right on Roxster before she's finished crying. She laughs through awkward sex. She's messy, unpredictable and refuses to follow the script. And yet, as I watched, I couldn't help but think: if this were a film about a male widower, none of this would be worth commenting on, only because the big screen mirrors back to us what we are taught in society. After the death of a spouse, men are seen as eligible, while women are seen as wounded. Men's grief in romcoms is framed as part of their allure. They are given an air of romance, their pain making them more attractive. Sleepless in Seattle opens with Tom Hanks's character having barely finished the eulogy before women are throwing themselves at him. In Love Actually, Liam Neeson's character gets a charmingly tragic backstory before he is seamlessly set up with Claudia Schiffer. And who can forget the reason why The Holiday is a firm Christmas favourite among women: Jude Law as 'hot single dad' who speaks about his feelings yet barely about his dead wife. His role was not to fumble through self-reinvention but to serve as the dream man who helps a woman believe in love again. Watching Bridget refuse to play that game felt oddly personal because I'm a widow, too. My husband Greg died of cancer in 2021 when I was 41, leaving me with two small daughters and a huge void. The scene of Bridget dancing and singing with her children in their house – a regular occurrence in ours – was particularly poignant. For me, it is a true depiction of being the solo parent left behind, trying to provide joy for your children despite being engulfed by grief. Also like Bridget, I have been bombarded with well-meaning but wildly conflicting advice about how I should be grieving while rebuilding my love life: 'You're still young, stay open to love, but don't rush into anything', 'Focus on yourself first', 'Don't you want to find someone new?' Grief doesn't come with a handbook, yet people seem convinced that if you don't follow a particular timeline – one that is slow, quiet, and palatable – you're doing it wrong. The idea that a widow could simply want connection, fun or even just good sex without it being framed as either self-destructive or groundbreaking remains strangely radical. That's what makes Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy so refreshing. Yes, she grieves. But she also does what so many of us actually do – she makes mistakes, she follows bad advice, she makes dodgy beauty choices. And crucially, she doesn't wait to be healed before living her life again. Healing is messy and contradictory; sometimes it means sex with a hot younger man simply because you want to. Of course, the film isn't perfect. There's still an element of the classic 'widow's journey' trope, where grief must ultimately lead to reinvention. By the end of the film, Bridget isn't just dating again – she has discovered new purpose and self-worth. But for all its predictability, Mad About the Boy still feels like a step forward. It dares to show a widow who isn't waiting for permission to be happy again. It acknowledges that grief isn't linear. And most importantly, it lets a woman be messy, funny and desirable after loss – without making it feel like a moral dilemma. Stacey Heale is the author of Now is Not the Time for Flowers: What No One Tells You About Life, Love and Loss. The paperback edition is out in April
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Producers scrapped Scottish Bridget Jones love interest character
LEO Woodall has revealed that he prepared to play Bridget Jones' young love interest as a Scot before the producers 'changed their minds'. In the fourth movie in the romantic comedy saga, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Londoner Woodall plays Hampstead Heath park worker Roxster, who meets the clumsy and lovelorn TV worker (Renee Zellweger) after rescuing her from a tree. The upcoming film takes place four years after the death of Bridget's husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and sees her readjust to the single life. It also includes the return of Hugh Grant, who continues in the role of former lover Daniel Cleaver – who had been killed off in the third film, Bridget Jones's Baby. Woodall (above), also known for Netflix's One Day and HBO hit series The White Lotus, told BBC One talk programme The Graham Norton Show that Roxster 'was supposed to be Scottish'. He added: 'I went into the audition prepared to do it in a Scottish accent and once I did it, they changed their minds.' Woodall also said he did not really get to know Grant during the filming of the movie, though both did attended the January 29 premiere. READ MORE: Janey Godley tribute show to feature Elaine C Smith and Susie McCabe He said: 'I didn't get to work with Hugh, and I was too shy to say hello to him. Everyone keep asking me, 'What he's like?' and I have to say, 'I don't know, I haven't met him'.' Zellweger (below) said she was 'hopeful' for the return of Grant 'but also surprised (because) he was dead'. 'But if you are going to bring someone back to life, let it be Daniel Cleaver,' she added. 'I am so glad they found him alive at the end of the third film so he could come back if he wanted to. He is so brilliant.' She also spoke about how Bridget has addressed 'the dark moments' with grief of Mark dying in her 'own way'. 'No one gets to this stage of life without knowing grief and it wouldn't be authentic without a little struggle,' she added. The new film is based on British author Helen Fielding's 2013 book Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, which sees the character as a widow in her 50s with two children.
