10 Best Bridget Jones’s Diary Moments
8. Bridget’s Granny Panties
Near the beginning of the film, Bridget is preparing to attend a book launch hosted by the publishing house where she works and is hoping to make a memorable impression on her flirty boss, Daniel. Her friends – fragile but kind Jude (Shirley Henderson), foul-mouthed journalist Sharon (Sally Phillips), and
washed-up 90s pop star Tom (James Callis) – give her advice on how to look fabulous, sound intelligent, and mingle. This is intercut with a montage of Bridget with her hair in curlers as she practises pronouncing ‘Salman Rushdie’ and clips, shaves, and waxes her entire body.
Nothing symbolizes the modern woman’s plight quite like the many painful steps required to get ready for an evening out. And this scene captures it perfectly as Bridget winces, tugs, and even screams out in agony. Finally, she is faced with the perennial dilemma between small, attractive underwear and ‘scary, stomach-holding-in panties, very popular with grannies the world over.’ She opts for the latter.
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7. ‘To Mark and His Natasha’
On their first date, Daniel told Bridget that his fiancée had cheated on him with Mark and left him broken-hearted. As a result, Bridget cut ties with Mark, thinking the worst of him. She later learns from her mother, however, that in fact it was the other way around.
With her parents in tow and ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ blaring on the soundtrack, she speeds to Mark’s parents’ house along icy roads and cuts across their front lawn to tell him how she really feels. However, his parents are celebrating their anniversary and announce in front of dozens of party guests that Mark has been made partner at a law firm in New York with his associate Natasha (Embeth Davidtz). The Darcys also imply that the pair are bound for the altar, toasting ‘to Mark and his Natasha.’
In a moment of vicarious humiliation, Bridget exclaims ‘No!’ and all heads turn to her. The room is deafeningly silent as she babbles that it’s a pity for England to lose ‘one of our top people.’ Deep down, she and Mark both know that she’s referring to her disappointment of losing her ‘top person.’
Though this embarrassing outburst exemplifies her need of a filter, we can all celebrate her guts and even envy her ability to say exactly what she’s thinking.
6. The Tarts & Vicars Party
After Bridget and Daniel go on a mini-break holiday together, he goes back to London to work, leaving her alone to attend a ‘tarts and vicars’ party with her parents and their friends. She puts on her best pair of bunny ears and fishnets, but to her horror, none of the other guests are dressed up after all, except for her poor father in a clergyman’s white collar.
It is a mortifying yet funny moment since nobody informed them of the change in dress code. To her credit, she puts on a brave face and doesn’t make her embarrassment obvious. As her parents have recently separated, she meets her mother’s new boyfriend, Julian (Patrick Barlow), a dapper, overly tanned presenter on the shopping channel. In the end, despite her humiliation, Bridget realizes that her father’s day has been worse and stays at the party to comfort him. It’s a sweet and tender moment that shows her genuine heart and maturity.
