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[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheBridgesOfMadisonCounty_2902.jpg]]
''The Bridges of Madison County'' is a 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller.

The novel follows Francesca Johnson, a married but lonely Italian woman, living in 1960s Madison County, Iowa, who engages in an affair with Robert Kincaid, a National Geographic photographer from Bellingham, Washington who is visiting Madison County in order to create a photographic essay on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_covered_bridges_in_Madison_County,_Iowa covered bridges in the area.]]

''The Bridges of Madison County'' was adapted into a film in 1995. It was produced by Amblin Entertainment and Malpaso Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. The film was produced and directed by Creator/ClintEastwood with Kathleen Kennedy as co-producer and the screenplay was adapted by Richard [=LaGravenese=]. Eastwood starred as Robert Kincaid, with Creator/MerylStreep as Francesca Johnson.

It was also adapted into a [[Theatre/TheBridgesOfMadisonCounty stage musical]] with a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown.
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!!This film provides examples of:

* AuthorAppeal: Creator/ClintEastwood is a huge fan of blues music, so the club Robert and Francesca go out dancing at is a blues club.
* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: Francesca's will states she doesn't want to be buried with her husband; instead, she wants her ashes to be scattered off one of the eponymous bridges, [[spoiler:the same where Robert's ashes were scattered]].
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Francesca wears her hair up in a dowdy bun, but literally [[LettingHerHairDown lets it down]] more and more often around Robert, particularly in one sequence when they go out for a drive and to a jazz club. It's back up into the frumpy bun after she decides not to leave with Robert and her family returns home.
%%* DecemberDecemberRomance
%%* DownOnTheFarm
%%* TheFilmOfTheBook
* FlyoverCountry: Takes place and was filmed in Madison County, Iowa.
* GoingCommando: At the beginning, Michael and Caroline are looking at pictures of their mother that they've never seen before (taken by Robert), and when Michael's wife looks at one of them, she says of Francesca, "She's not wearing a bra."
* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: An odd case given that the affair is not set up by an abusive husband and the like, it's simply done and the implications of it being wrong are never explored.
* MenDontCry: A ridiculous amount of coaxing was required to get Clint Eastwood to cry for a scene.
* WartimeWedding: Francesca tells Robert that Richard, her husband, was one of the soldiers who helped liberate Italy during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, which is how she met him, and they got married soon afterwards.
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