1 MOTHER’S LETTER
CAROLINE：(reads) “January, 1987. Dear Carolyn. I hope you're reading this with Michael. I'm sure he wouldn't be able to read it by himself and he'll need some help understanding all this, especially the parts about me having sex...”
CAROLYN: “After going through the safety deposit box, I'm sure you'll find your way to this letter. It's hard to write this to my own children. I could let this die with the rest of me, I suppose.
But as one gets older, one's fears subside. What becomes more and more important is to be known—known for all that you were during this brief stay. It seems to me to be a tragedy to leave this earth without those you love the most ever really knowing who you were.
It's easy for a mother to love her children no matter what — it's something that just happens. I don't know if it's as simple for children.
You're all so busy being angry at us for raising you wrong. But I thought it was important to give you that chance. To give you the opportunity to love me for all that I was...”
CAROLYN: (cont'd) “His name was Robert Kincaid. He was a photographer and he was here in 1965 shooting an article for National Geographic on the covered bridges of Madison County.
CAROLYN:(cont'd) I don't want you to be angry with him. I hope after you know the whole story, you might even think well of him. Even grateful.
MICHAEL: Grateful ?!
CAROLYN: (reads) “... It's all there in the four notebooks. Read them in order... I never stopped loving your father. He was a very good man. It's just that my love for Robert was different. He brought out something in me no one had ever brought out before, or since. He made me feel like a woman in a way few women ever experience...”
2. TO LEAVE OR TO STAY？
ROBERT：Tell me why you're not coming with me?
FRANCESCA: No matter how I keep turning it around in my mind — it doesn't seem like the right thing.
ROBERT: For who?
FRANCESCA: For anyone. They'll never be able to live through the talk. Richard will never be able to. He doesn't deserve that. He hasn't hurt anyone in his life.
ROBERT: (getting aggressive) Then he can move! People move!
FRANCESCA: His family's lived here for almost a hundred years. Richard doesn't know how to live anywhere else. And the kids...
ROBERT: The kids are grown! They don't need you anymore. You told me that. They hardly talk to you.
FRANCESCA: No, they don't say much. But Carolyn's 16. She's just about to find out about all this for herself, she's going to fall in love, she's going to try and figure out how to build a life with someone. If I leave, what does that say to her?
ROBERT: What about us? What about me?
FRANCESCA: You've got to know deep down that the minute we leave here. It'll all change.
ROBERT: Yeah. It could get better.
FRANCESCA: No matter how much distance we put between us and this house, I bring it with me. And I'll feel it every minute we're together. And I'll blame loving you for how much it hurts. And then even these four days won't be anything more than something sordid and... a mistake.
ROBERT: (desperately) Francesca, listen to me. You think what's happened to us happens to just anybody? What we feel for each other? How much we feel? We're not even two separate people anymore. Some people search their whole lives for it and wind up alone —— most people don't even think it exists and you're going to tell me that giving it up is the right thing to do? That staying here alone in a marriage, alone in a town you hate, in a house you don't feel a part of anymore — you're telling me that's the right thing to do!?
FRANCESCA: We are the choices we've made, Robert.
ROBERT: (rises) TO HELL WITH YOU!
FRANCESCA: Robert. Please. (desperate to explain) You don't understand — no one does. When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children — in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected to move again only you don't remember what moves you because no one has asked in so long. Not even yourself. You never in your life think that love like this can happen to you.
ROBERT: But now that you have it…
FRANCESCA: I want to keep it forever. I want to love you the way I do now the rest of my life. Don't you understand — we'll lose it if we leave. I can't make an entire life disappear to start a new one. All I can do is try to hold on to both. Help me. Help me not lose loving you.
1.母亲的遗书
卡洛琳：(念信) “1987年1月，亲爱的卡洛琳，我希望你此刻是在同迈克一起读这封信。我敢肯定他无法一个人读这封信。他需要一些帮助来理解这一切，特别是关于我的私情……”
卡洛琳： “在查看完了保险箱中的遗物之后，我相信你们会找到这封信的。把这件事以这种方式告知自己的子女真难。我想，也许我应该让这件事和我的肉身一同死去。”
“但随着岁数增长，人的恐惧会越来越少。变得越来越重要的是让人了解你，了解你这短暂一生中所发生的一切。如果在你去世之后，你所爱的那些人还不能真正了解你，那才叫悲哀。”
“母亲无条件地爱自己的子女是容易做到的——这是再自然不过的事情。可是子女是否也能同样无条件爱自己的父母，我就不知道了。”
“你们都在忙着生我们的气，怪我们没有给你们良好的教育。可是我想这很重要，我应该给你们这个机会，让你们也来爱我，无条件地爱我……”
卡洛琳：(继续) “他的名字叫罗伯特·金凯，是一位摄影家，曾于1965年来我们这里为《国家地理杂志》拍摄曼迪逊县的廊桥……
卡洛琳：(继续) “我不愿让你们忌恨他。我希望在你们了解事情的全部真相之后，或许会对他有些好感，甚至感激。"
迈克：感激？
卡洛琳：(读）“……这一切都在那四本日记中。按顺序读一读这些日记……我从未停止过对你们父亲的爱，他是一个很好的人。只是我对罗伯特的爱是另一种爱，因为他从我身上发掘出了一些特别的东西，这一点过去没有人做到，后来也没有人做到。他使我感到自己像一个女人，这种感觉，世上的女人很少能有幸体验……”
2. 是去还是留
罗伯特：告诉我你为何不跟我出走？
弗兰西斯卡：无论怎么想这件事情，我都觉得不妥。
罗：对谁不妥？
弗：对谁都不妥。他们会被大家的唾沫淹死的。理查德绝对承受不了。这对他不公平。他一辈子从未伤害过谁。
罗：(变得暴躁）那他可以离开这里，人们经常迁徙呀。
弗：他的家庭已经在这里生活了近一百年。离开了故乡，理查德不知道在别处怎样生存。还有孩子们……
罗：孩子们已经长大了！他们不再需要你了，这一点你已经告诉过我了，他们几乎都不跟你说话了。
弗：是的，他们是不大说话。可是卡洛琳才16岁。她正要自己去寻找这一切的答案——她将会恋爱，她将会努力去同某人建立家庭。如果我现在离家出走，这对她意味着什么？
罗：那我们怎么办？那我怎么办？
弗：你在心里应该明白：一旦我们离开这里，这一切都会改变。
罗：是啊，也许会变得更好呢！
弗：无论我们离开这个家多远，我都会时刻把它装在我心里。我们在一起的分分秒秒我都会因此而不安。我会因为这件事所造成的伤害而责备自己不该爱你，甚至同你相处的这四天也会成为一种肮脏的回忆……一个错误。
罗：(绝望地）弗兰西斯卡，请听我说。你认为在我们之间发生的事情会在任何人之间发生吗？我们相互的感觉呢？我们彼此之间的深爱呢？我们甚至已经不再是两个可以相互分开的人了。有些人穷尽毕生追求这种情缘，最后都两手空空——大多数人甚至不相信天地间还有这种情缘存在，而你现在却告诉我说放弃它是正确的选择。难道独自留守这样的婚姻，这样一个你痛恨的小镇，这样一个你感觉已经与你无关的家庭，难道你要告诉我这是正确的选择吗？！
弗：我们的人生就是自己选择的结果，罗伯特。
罗：(站起来）见鬼去吧！
弗：罗伯特，求求你了。(绝望地辩解)你不明白，谁也不能明白。当一个女人选择结婚，选择生育时，从某种意义上说，她的人生开始了，而从另一种意义上说，她的人生却停滞了。你建立起了充满细节的生活；你成为了母亲和妻子；你停下脚来，原地踏步，好让你的孩子们前行。而一旦他们离开你，他们也带走了你生活的所有细节。这时候你该继续自己的生活了，可是你已经不记得还有什么能感动你：因为已经很久没有人问过你，甚至包括你自己。你一生都不会想到，这种爱情还会发生在你自己身上。
罗：可是既然它已经发生了。
弗：我要把它珍藏到永远，我要一辈子像我现在这样爱你。难道你不明白吗？一旦我们离开这里，我们之间的爱情就会消失。我不能为了开始一个新的生活而放弃我的整个生活。我所有能做的就是同时把两个都紧紧抓住。救救我吧，不要让我失去对你的那份爱。