LOVE STORIES

Kalle Matso and Scott White offer us a twentysomething assessment of “The Bridges of Madison County” (Film Clips, June 11). Only their self-absorbed shallowness makes it across.

“Just a couple of nice-looking middle-aged people having good sex . . . a fling . . . tawdry . . . a showcase for failed love”? Are you kidding me? Matso/White wouldn’t recognize love if they stepped in it, which is apparently as much as they’re capable of.

The movie is about missed connections, guys. Last chances. Choices perceived and actions taken based on a morality higher than self. What’s middle age got to do with it? Love isn’t generation-specific. How else does one explain our continued interest in the plight of those two 16th-Century teens, Romeo and Juliet?

The fault, dear Matso/White, lies not in your youth, but in yourselves. Check LensCrafters. Maybe they have something for the soul.

JACK VALE

Los Angeles

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To all those doing handsprings over “The Bridges of Madison County,” it is recommended they review the classic film “Brief Encounter,” starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, for a real experience in true poignancy. It’s based on the same theme but is vastly more moving and honest.

Or take another pair of star-crossed lovers, “Out of Africa’s” Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Their last dance to the nostalgic strains of a quavering Victrola in that stark, empty house sets a mood of finality far more heartbreaking and emotionally involving than the whole 150 minutes of the synthetic “Bridges.”

PEGGY PHILLIPS BUCCI

Monarch Beach