Madame Bovary – movie review

Based upon Gustave Flaubert’s literary classic and not to be confused with the recently released Gemma Bovery, this is the story of a young married woman desperate to escape the dullness of her provincial life. Madame Bovary is a straight drama, while Gemma Bovery was a comedic dramatic romantic reimagining, which drew inspiration from a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds.

In this case the newly wedded lady Emma Bovary is played by Australia’s Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), who looks as fetching as she has in any movie I have seen her in. After being brought up in a convent, Mme Bovary is married to a good man in Charles (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), a well-intentioned and respectful rural doctor. But she has nothing to do all day and is desperate for some stimulation. She finds herself drawn to the fineries (beautiful clothing and fine furnishings) so well marketed on credit by a local businessman, M. Lheureux (Rhys Ifans).   When it comes to her heart though, she is drawn to those who appear to have far greater vision and boldness than her husband. Eventually, resistance becomes impossible and she succumbs, pursuing her forbidden fantasies through a series of indiscreet seductions and adulterous affairs.

Director and co-screenwriter Sophie Barthes sees the two sides of Bovary’s character that she injects into the film. At first blush she is soft, delicate, tender and generous. She is also obsessive and can be “aggressive, rebellious, combative, provocative and relentless in her fight for independence and the satisfaction of her wildest desires and appetites,” according to Barthes.

During the course of the film she becomes more and more desperate and despondent. The movie has seen the action condensed from the book down to a year. Barthes says a deliberate choice was made to focus on a very young Emma. “She barely has time to experience adult age before falling into a series of mistakes, misjudgments and … a self-destructive spiral.

“She is a naïve and vulnerable young woman, living in a world of projections and idealisations, devoured by her monstrous quest for pleasure.” Barthes says Emma is also isolated in a masculine world – surrounded by grotesque, conformist and narrow-minded male figures. “Charles Bovary is the only man who really loves her but it is an unconditional, clumsy, sick love since it is a maternal rather than a conjugal love. And Emma’s understanding of this love comes too late when her destiny is already doomed.”

It seems to take an eternity for more than the odd word to be spoken at the start of Madame Bovary. That includes Emma’s childhood and her wedding, with only a sentence or two offered up at the reception. By then the movie is starting to wear heavily on the audience. It is only when Emma becomes increasingly unhappy and unfulfilled that Madame Bovary comes into its own. In other words, when Emma succumbs to temptation, our allure is undoubtedly heightened. And, I assure you, by then the picture most certainly needed something to solicit interest.

Apart from Charles Bovary, it is noteworthy how many of the men in this picture are flawed – from the marketing guru to the chemist (Paul Giamatti), with whom the doctor works closely, and the men to whom Emma is drawn.

Beautiful natural settings, architecture and period costumes are also features.

But when all is said and done the second half of Madame Bovary is so much more fulfilling than the first half. Dare I be chastised for saying so, but it almost plays out like a refined but salacious telemovie with another fine performance from Mia Wasikowska. Neverthess, it needed some prudent pruning because it felt dragged out.

Rated M, Madame Bovary scores a 6½ out of 10.

Director: Sophie Barthes
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Ezra Miller, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Paul Giamatti and Laura Carmichael
Release Date: 9 July 2015
Rating: M

Alex First