Walking in Bridget Jones’s footsteps
Recalling a few vital life lessons as the iconic character, now 51, returns to the dating world on Valentine’s Day in ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.”
Bridget Jones stole hearts from the moment she made an appearance in Helen Fielding’s column in The Independent in 1995. Written as a personal diary, every piece chronicled the life of 30-something Jones as a single woman in London, one attempting to make sense of life, love, and relationships. It went on to be published as a novel in 1996 and was then made into a string of romcoms, beginning with Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2001.
Bridget (Renée Zellweger) has been through plenty since we first met her: love triangles, career changes, prison stints, heartbreaks, and more. She’s set to return to our lives – and the dating scene on February 14, 2025, as a 51-year-old in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. With the help of her friends and former cheeky, flirtatious boss Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), she gets back on the dating scene following Mark Darcy’s (Colin Firth) death on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan four years ago.
She may now be a mother of two, but in our hearts Bridge will always be the ultimate 30-something chaotic singleton. Who else deliberated on dating, insecurities, flaws, personal growth, and granny underpants, with wry, trademark humour?
In today’s woke world, it’s easy to dismiss Bridget as a relic from a bygone age: too desperate, too vulnerable, and too obsessed with finding a man. Quite a few parts of the book series haven’t aged well. Bridget’s focus on her status as a Single Woman and calories may find few takers today, but the messy life of the forever singleton remains relatable. For the perfectly imperfect Bridget is aware that “one must not live one’s life through men but must be complete on oneself as a woman of substance”, and so calls out a man for daring to be “so fraudulently flirtatious, cowardly and dysfunctional?” No wonder she isn’t – when not overthinking things - not interested in “emotional fuckwittage”.
Gen Z, who weren’t born when Fielding’s novel was first published, has taken to the flawed and often-floundering heroine, which Fielding finds “comforting”. The year 2024 reportedly saw sales of Bridget Jones’s Diary rise. TikTok, where the largest demographic (between the ages of 18-24) was born after the first film was released in 2001, has more than three million posts under ‘Bridget Jones’!
In an interview to Digital Spy, Zellweger said a lot of people find her “relatable”. “She inspires me, she’s authentically herself, and as much as she self-scrutinises, she’s not self-conscious,” the actor said. “Even though the execution isn’t always perfect in her planning, she still triumphs. Who doesn’t find her inspiring? I do.”
In the age of flawless selfies and highly curated Instagram feeds, even the slightest imperfection can feel like complete failure. But in the era of “casual” relationships and dating apps, Bridget’s willingness to wear her heart on her sleeve is something to be admired. Despite her clumsiness and annoying focus on her hapless relationships, there’s plenty that this perennial singleton can teach the woman of today.
On a recent trip to London, I signed up for a Bridget Jones’s walk through London. A day in the life of Bridge led me to her cool flat above Globe Tavern, the popular Borough Market where she often got a snack, and Rules, said to be London’s oldest restaurant.
The guide from Totally Tailored, a tour company licensed to guide at Borough Market, showed me the many London landmarks that played a role in the series: Tower Bridge, which Bridget walks across on her way to work; Middle Temple hall, the Inns of Court where Darcy works; the pub where Darcy and Cleaver slug it out to curry the lady’s favour; and the place where Darcy buys Bridget a new diary.
Hours later, I found myself thinking as I sat at Rows & Vine, a vineyard restaurant, sharing seasonal platters with friends. Bridget Jones may be much maligned in today’s always on-point and perfection-seeking world, but there’s plenty we have all learned from the woman who single-handedly defined the oft-maligned chick-lit genre, the woman who was constantly learning how to love and live her life.
Friends are the family you choose...
Bridget Jones’s troika of friends keeps her going: on good days when her calories are in control and bad days when she ends up blowing her alcohol units with them. She tells them about embarrassing herself in front her boss, joins them at dinner parties with Smug Marrieds, and cooks them a dinner of blue soup and marmalade on her birthday. She comforts investment banker Jude (Shirley Henderson) when she has boyfriend troubles, and lends an ear to Sharon, who can’t stop saying f$#k. The trio, constantly cracking jokes, chain smoking, and insulting the latest man to break Bridget’s heart, are the family Bridget has created in London. But she’s aware of one problem: they might think no one’s good enough for her. “Friends - they spend years trying to find you a boyfriend, but the moment you get one, they instantly tell you to dump him!” she says.
…and help you make the right choice
Bridget starts out with a lofty goal: to not fall for “alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, people with girlfriends or wives, misogynists, megalomanics, chauvinists, emotional fuckwits or freeloaders, perverts”. But her romantic capers ultimately end in a choice between two men: the irresistible bad boy and the discreet nice chap. Initially, she lets herself be taken in by the smooth-talking Daniel Cleaver, but realises that the charming man – her boss, no less – is not to be relied upon. Not like the ordinary Mr Darcy who turns out to be extraordinary in the relationship department. After, all he’s “the one” who ultimately tells Bridget: “I like you very much — just as you are”.
It’s okay to not be perfect…
The Bridge we meet in the first book (and movie) seems to have it all: a great job, wonderful friends, caring parents, and a flat next to Borough Market. But, plagued by imposter syndrome (as we know it now), she obsesses over her perceived imperfections, and focuses on her flaws and foibles. The chain-smoking Single seems to have a cloud of self-aversion hanging over her head but ultimately realises that it’s fine to not be fine. “I will not get upset over men, but instead be poised and cool ice-queen,” she famously writes. It has taken her a while, but she’s realised that it’s okay to be imperfect. “She’s not thinking about what she looks like all the time. She’s messy and that’s OK, and she doesn’t get it right and that’s okay,” said Zellweger about the woman she’s often identified with. “Bridget reminds us that it’s okay to be imperfect. You can still get the guy, succeed, and be happy by just being yourself.”
…for to fail is to move forward
Bridget seems to have mastered the art of failure: she’s fallen on a ski slope, misinterpreted many a romantic signal, burned the birthday dinner she’s cooking for her friends, and called her boss’s boss Tits Pervert instead of Fitzherbert. But the undisputed queen of socially awkward situations does not let herself be defeated by her faux pas. Instead, she uses self-deprecation to get out of the hole that she routinely gets herself into. Surprisingly, her many flaws have created a fanbase for her in a place where perfection is sought after: the digital realm. Her life – drinking and smoking, swearing like a sailor, applying makeup and doing her hair in the back of a dimly-lit car, and messing up often – is a reminder that life will never be picture perfect, never be wrinkle-free unlike on social media. Poor self-esteem and failed relationships may be her lot at times, but Bridget shows that “little failures” are not an end in themselves. “It is proved by surveys that happiness does not come from love, wealth, or power but the pursuit of attainable goals,” she says.
Regardless of age, a diary is always a great companion
People have been penning their feelings in a diary since time immemorial. But maintaining a diary – now an exalted ritual called journalling – does not have to be confined to teenagers. Bridget’s journal, her secret outpouring of thoughts that we all are in the know of, is an outlet where she is vulnerable, where she writes without filter: “…we were always taught, instead of waiting to be swept off our feet, to ‘expect little, forgive much’.” Putting down her collection of thoughts ends up becoming a way to express feelings. Sample this: “Our culture is too obsessed with outward appearance, age and status. Love is what matters.” Ultimately, it becomes a way to relieve her frustrations and try to organise her disorganised life. “You only get one life. I’ve just made a decision to change things a bit and spend what’s left of mine looking after me for a change,” Bridget writes.
Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle