Customer Reviews

Madame Bovary

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent adaptation of the Gustave Flaubert novel of the same name. Isabelle Huppert is superb as the central character, Emma, a prosperous farmer's daughter, who marries a doctor, Charles Bovary (Jean Francois Balmer). He is a kind and gentle soul who adores her and wants nothing more than to make her happy. The problem is that he does not know how. Even Emma does not really know what would make her happy.

This is the story of Emma Bovary and her unhappy, wasted, shallow life. She is a woman who on the surface seems to have everything, an adoring, doting husband, a lovely, healthy daughter, an attractive well appointed home. Yet, she is unhappy. She loathes her husband, finding him pedantic and dull. She has little time for her daughter and seems to have little motherly instincts. What worldly goods she has never seem to ber enough.

Seeking fulfillment, she takes lovers who always seem to fail her in the end. She mistakes passion for love and never fails to be disappointed when that love turns out to be fleeting, blind to the love that exists under her very own roof. As her unhappiness and dissatisfaction grow, so does the beauty of her wardrobe. Beautifully gowned and accessorized, Emma Bovary is as beautiful as she is shallow. She spends what she does not have on passing fripperies, only to have her world eventually come crashing down around her. She takes the easy way out of her self inflicted misery and, in doing so, consigns those who had the misfortune to truly love her to a doomed existence.

Claude Chabrol deftly directed this arresting period piece, exacting wonderful performances from the entire cast. Isabelle Huppert is perfectly cast as Emma Bovary with her icy beauty and gives a performance that is on the money. Jean Francois Balmer is also notable for his portrayal of her doting and supportive husband. This is an excellent, value priced film, one that is well worth having in one's collection. Period piece lovers will especially enjoy this film.

This film is a French adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's classic tale of human bondage, "Madame Bovary."

I expected this adaptation to be better than others I have seen simply because it was done by the French, but sadly the film does not hold up to Flaubert's original work. Isabelle Huppert does a so-so job as the lead character, the great sufferer, Madame Bovary. Huppert does not show enough passion and emotion for my taste though, the original character is consumed by suffering and desperately stabs at whatever form of relief comes her way, but Huppert doesn't quite get any depth out of this performance. She looks lovely in her period costumes however. Madame Bovary succumbed to adultery, debtful spending habits and even suicide while being married to Dr. Bovary and never feeling passionately satisfied with her life. The character is both the ultimate victim of her own circumstances and that of the stigma society held over women of her time. In the classic novel she screams for understanding and compassion but here Huppert only manages to stir a selfish and self-absorbed creature lacking any decent humanity.

Contrasting to the Madame is Dr. Bovary, played decently by Jean-Francois Balmer, who manages to bring a sorrow to the dutiful man who cowers at the Madame's feet. Malavoy is sweet and hardworking much as I imagine the original character to be and also sadly unsuspicious of his wicked wife's activities at his expense. The enigmatic and suave character of Rodolphe Boulanger is played by the handsome and convincing Christophe Malavoy. Malavoy is seductively charming and maliciously evil at the same time, the perfect match for Mrs. Bovary!

I enjoyed this film for the French aesthetic value but feel the need to dust off my old classic novel and re-read the story as written by the master, Flaubert. I enjoy the message contained in this story about the sin of excess and lack of reason behind decisions, interestingly enough this 1856 novel could use a few more readings in today's world. The film is good but the novel is GREAT, enjoy both for the experience.

"Madame Bovary," based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert, stars Isabelle Huppert in the title role. Unsuccessfully prosecuted by the French government as "immoral" after its publication in 1857, "Madame Bovary" is the story of a country doctor's wife bored with the banalities and emptiness of her provincial life in 19th-century France. To escape, she throws herself into love affairs with a suave local landowner (Rodolphe Boulanger) and a law student (Leon Dupuis) and runs up huge debts, much to the dismay of her dull husband. The 1991 film, directed by Claude Chabrol, closely follows Flaubert's novel and beautifully captures most of the famous scenes. Filmed in Rouen and neighboring villages, it lavishly evokes 19th-century France with its winding country roads, meadows, and homes. Period costumes complete the portrait of the era. The movie is in French with English subtitles. The two-disc DVD includes the bonus documentary "Isabelle Huppert: A Life of Acting.

Nobody could play the role better than Isabelle Huppert! I have red the book and seen the film. Never have I seen a film more "loyal" to such a wonderful book, than the film made by Claude Chabrol. And Isabelle Huppert gives us the most wonderful representation of the young Madame Bovary. She truely transmites us the idea of a woman who lives in another world; whose soul is restless, sufering, bored and longing for a glamourous life. If one likes the book, the film by Claude Chabrol will certainly not be disappointing!

Madame Bovary is one of the most priceless examples of the Romantic literature that stands out among a group of related works in other countries. As a matter of fact, you may include Anna Karenina in Russia, Effie Briest in Germany and Tess in England.

The common denominator has to do with the lack of satisfaction, the ceaseless search of new experiences, far beyond the hover of social conventionalisms, boredom and the febrile circumstance of breaking the chains of the tradition, it's far to be an apology to adultery, it's the final result of the Romantic view of the feminine universe, where the women just began to realize the importance of them as human being and not simply as an object for sexual enjoyment.

So, this adaptation made by Claude Chabrol, takes into account this scream of desperation, loneliness, boredom and hopeless about the dreams and unsatisfied desires of simple woman, curious but endowed of a strong character who realizes her vision of the world is beyond the approach of her weak husband.

She will decide - regardless the social conventionalisms - to follow her bliss and her pursuit for happiness, no matter the consequences she had to pay after the scandal is reveled. But that fatal decision has its prize, and soon the ambition, caprices will demand its counterpart, that slow but irreversibly will lead her to a tragic final.

But what I mostly enjoyed of the movie was the way Chabrol carved in relief these little sins of the social environment, whose moral corruption and ethic decay bright with nasty intensity.

Isabelle Huppert, shows us once more why she was the perfect actress to perform this role, the camerawork and the theatrical feature of the play may be appreciated in its horrid intensity and superb realism.

Don't miss this classic film, frequently included among the most representative ones any time. In fact, the prestigious "Facets" included this one among the best 600 foreign films ever made, and that means by itself a remarkable opinion.

Go for this one and enjoy it over and over. It's a masterpiece.

Having not yet read the book, I am not comparing the relative merits of book vs. film. Isabelle Huppert is a beautiful actress who convincingly portrays a dislikable character. Emma comes from a wealthy farming background and marries Charles Bovary, a doctor who works very hard, loves his wife, and wants to have children. Yet Emma cannot find her purpose in life and she is dying of ennui. She goes through the motions of having a baby but cannot connect with the child. Bored with her husband she searches endlessly for more exciting relationships and winds up in the depths of despair. The film is able to emphasize the comforts that she is able to afford, each scene showing a her in a more dazzling costume than the last. In the end, like the fisherman's wife, she winds up with nothing, consumed by her own insatiable desires. END

This is one of my top favourite adaptions of this life changing story.

They stuck well to the book and the "feel" of Emma, the locales and the motivations. It seems a lot of adapations don't do that.

Huppert I thought was perfect to play Emma. She had just the right self-centered, clueless passion.

This movie is one of the best renditons of Gustave Flaubert's classic novel. The actors do a wonderful job giving depth to the characters and it is a wonderful adaptive screenplay. I recommend this version of all others except for maybe the one with Francis O'Conner.

A must-see movie to learn the about perils of greed. Excellent protrayal by Isabelle Hupert. Best if you know French

Not knowing the original source material by Flaubert allowed me to view this 1991 adaptation for the presented movie itself.In a nutshell,the script was extremely choppy and clunky( like a figure skater who proceeds from jump to jump with no connecting movement),the "passion" of Bovary and her "lovers" was positively passionLESS(where did these people learn to kiss???),and Isabelle Huppert's interpretation of the title character made Scarlett O'Hara seem more like Mother Theresa of Calcutta!The only character that summoned any sympathy from me was Dr.Bovary who was hopelessly devoted to his icy,selfish,narcissistic wife.
I watched this film because the current Golden Globe nominated movie LITTLE CHILDREN starring Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson is based out of the novel MADAME BOVARY and is far more interesting with it's tight and seemless script,flawless acting and direction.Having seen LITTLE CHILDREN,MADAME BOVARY seemed simply dull,lifeless and especially lacking in passion.I have never seen such awful and ridiculous "love scenes" than the ones in this film.For a French film that was to be somewhat scandalous, there most certainly was no Ooo-La-La!
Pretty costumes were the only things that remotely made this period piece watchable.