The Relatable Bridget Jones’s Diary

Bridget Jones’s Diary. Universal Pictures (2001).

By R.J. F.

Let’s all raise a glass to the relatable self-induced nightmare that is finding love.

Have you ever watched a film where a character does something totally klutzy or mortifying and thought, “fuck, I’ve done that?” That moment when you are filled with embarrassment for the character, as well as yourself, is how I feel when I watch Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget, played by Renée Zellweger, is a thirty-something-year-old single woman who seems to misstep every romantic encounter in her life. She is constantly creating face-palm moments at every turn, and watching this character is sometimes like looking in a mirror. I’m going to step out on a limb and say that almost everyone has felt and acted like Bridget here or there.

Part of the connection that people might feel towards Bridget revolves around her body and her own self-image. Remember how everyone kept going on and on about how Zellweger was sooooo fat for the role, about how she needed to gain sooooo much weight, and how everyone thought it was revolutionary that a skinny actress would be brave enough to gain that much weight for a movie? Bro, what the fuck? She wasn’t even fat. But, I guess in terms of leading ladies in a romantic comedy during that time, her physique was bigger than what had previously been on screen.

This was part of the appeal of the character of Bridget. At the time of the movie’s release, which was in 2001, the idea of a romantic female lead who was not a size 2 was unheard of. Zellweger reportedly gained 30 pounds for the role, but she honestly just looked like an average sized woman. Nevertheless, the fuller figured character appealed to women because of how relatable she looked.

Besides the body of an average woman, part of Bridget’s relatability are some of the situations she got herself into. She always seemed to say and do the most embarrassing and wrong things at the most inopportune times. One such moment was when she is being reintroduced to Mark Darcy, played by the always handsome Colin Firth. I mean, meow with that casting choice! Poor Bridget is totally out of her league with Mark. She stumbles and bumbles her way through their first interaction since they were children, and it’s awkward as hell! It doesn’t help that Bridget’s mom puts her into a hideous outfit, but she doesn’t help herself with the utter word vomit that she’s spewing. Every time I watch this scene, I can’t help but think about how many times in my life I’ve said or done something totally ungraceful and cringey in front of a guy I was attracted to.

Saying and doing the wrong things is one part, but a large portion of the film shows Bridget pining desperately for her sexy boss, Daniel Cleaver, played by the dreamy Hugh Grant, a man that hardly looks her way. She does everything she can think of to get his attention, such as wearing revealing clothing to work and participating in some semi-innocent flirting. It eventually works, but backfires in her face when she discovers that Daniel is a cheating twat, as the Brits would say. Almost every woman can understand the agony of trying to win the heart of a man, or woman, that is looking right past them. In fact, raise your hand if you’ve been in this situation; both of my hands are raised right now.

Of course, this being a rom-com, Bridget gets what she needs and wants at the end of the movie. But, in true Bridget fashion, it wouldn’t be the cherry on top of the cake if it wasn’t tinged with silliness. Watching Bridget and Mark (spoiler alert) kiss in the softly falling snow, as a romantic song plays in the background, while Bridget is pantless, wraps up this rom-com in a slightly wrinkled bow. It’s just like Bridget to get the guy, but in a comical and unpolished way.

When trying to find love, most people, at one point or another, feel like Bridget: unseen, awkward, filled with longing, lonely, and trying as best as they can to find their person without looking too idiotic along the way. Bridget Jones’s Diary is a film that encapsulates what it’s like for those that are not filled with social graces, those that make the wrong choices, those that don’t know how to be suave, and all the other horrifying moments and things one comes across on the path to love. We all have been in Bridget’s shoes at one point or another, which is why so many of us see ourselves in her. So, here’s to you, Bridget, our inept yet lovable heroine.