Academy Award winners' Meryl Streep (earning her 10th Oscar nomination for this performance) and Clint Eastwood (who also produces and directs) bring blazing starpower and powerful conviction to the beloved characters of Robert James Waller's best seller of love, choice and consequence. With luck, a love like that happens to some of us sooner or later. For Robert and Francesca, it was later. And it was glorious.
 
"A satisfying and romantic film..."  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep make magic."  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
 


Editor's Note

Based on Robert James Waller's hugely successful novel, this 1965-set drama chronicles the touching romance between a middle-aged, Italian-American housewife and a photographer from "National Geographic." Academy Award nominations: Best Actress--Meryl Streep.


Plot Summary

The film adaptation of Robert James Waller's wildly popular, bestselling novel. The story takes place in 1965, in the farmlands of Iowa, where bored, middle-aged Italian housewife Francesca has just sent her two kids and husband away to the state fair. Shortly thereafter she encounters Robert Kincaid, a mysterious, rugged, "National Geographic" photographer, on assignment taking pictures of Iowa's covered bridges. The two are immediately attracted to each other, and when Francesca invites Robert back to her home, they begin a romantic, sensual, illicit affair that lasts over the next few days. For Francesca, this is the first time in years that she's experienced passion in her life, and she realizes that maybe she's found her true love. Robert feels the same way, and shortly before her family returns home, asks Francesca to run off with him. Francesca now must make an important decision -- one that will affect the rest of her life and could leave her with many regrets...