Madame Bovary (1991)

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Seeing a note on ICM that a poll for the best films of 1991 would be coming soon,I decided to look at what the output of New Wave auteur Claude Chabrol was from that year. Finding the last viewing of Chabrol departing from the Thriller (Alice or the Last Escapade) to be a fascinating creation,I was interested in seeing him take on the Costume Drama, (note:I've not read the original novel) which led to me meeting Madame Bovary.View on the film:Making the most visible attempt to depart from his signature stylisation, writer/directing auteur Claude Chabrol reunites with cinematographer Jean Rabier to breath in the elegance of the Costume Drama,sparkling in panning shots over the regal clothes and crumbing buildings surrounding Bovary. Rubbing in the dirt that covers the lives of the characters in darkness, Chabrol boils up a dour atmosphere from charcoal blacks engulfing the screen. Not shying away from taking on Gustave Flaubert's "unfilmable" book, Chabrol's adaptation struggles from the weight of its origins, with chances appearing for a study of the rural lower class,being just lightly touched upon by Chabrol firmly sticking to the original text. Staying as faithful as possible to the novel, Chabrol sadly strips a layer of depth from the visual element of the movie by an over-use of narration,which interrupts the cast putting the thoughts and feelings of the characters across. Reuniting with Chabrol,Isabelle Huppert gives an exquisite performance which tugs at the heartstring and pulls at the ill roots of weakness from Madame Bovary.

I have no idea if Isabelle Huppert's Emma Bovary is a close relation to Gustave Flaubert's Emma Bovary. What I do know is that I was hugely moved by her. I felt actually like I was watching one of my close friends in a different incarnation. Emma's journey was poignant and fascinating. She seemed somewhat apart from the world, not inimical to it at all, but I guess recognising that her surroundings were somewhat arbitrary, and any role she had just that, a role. You would not exactly describe her as abundantly kind, but there seemed a complete absence of malice in her, a curiosity about life, without verging on recklessness, open-mindedness without verging on foolishness. She recognised the importance of duty without becoming a petit-bourgeois, brought up her daughter without blaming her despite her distaste for child rearing. It seemed her fate to not be satisfied for long, to be up and down, perhaps even what today we might call manic depression had a part to play. Her relationships never seemed satisfactory, and often she was wronged, particularly by Rodolphe. However I felt that she was restless enough that there would be no satisfaction. You know it's a great movie when it reminds you of someone you know, and the nuance sticks with you so long.There is also that being a romantic is a very dangerous thing to be if your powers of estimation of the other sex are faulty (I aim this comment at myself too!), or indeed if you conception of romance comes from fairy books.

not great, not bad but interesting. a correct film without the emotions of novel. a film in which lead actor is atmosphere. but it is not always credible. sure, after reading the book, it is easy to criticize. but the problem is the difficulty to create desire to discover Flaubert masterpiece. it is a sad story but it has so many sparkles of emotions, joy and hope. or the impression is to admire a funeral mask. Chabrol good intentions are obvious but it is not enough. Huppert does a wry role and the film seems be only a theater play. Madame Bovary is a cold shadow, ice statue, hologram. it is a beautiful, yet. but its beauty is more result of memories about novel. an adaptation. not great, not bad, correct but not convincing.

Even when a film tries to be as completely faithful as it can to the original source it can still end up lacking something that just doesn't transfer over to the big screen. There is definitely something missing here although it's hard to put a finger on it but it may be based on the way the story is presented. Story is about Emma (Isabelle Huppert) who lives with her father and dreams of a more exciting life and when she meets Dr. Charles Bovary (Jean-Francois Balmer) she looks at this as an opportunity for something different.*****SPOILER ALERT*****Emma marries Charles and at first she's happy but as time passes she becomes bored and loses interest in her husband but when he mentions the opportunity to move to a bigger town she agrees where he sets up a new practice. Emma and Charles have a daughter but this doesn't stop her from having affairs with Rodolphe (Christophe Malavoy) and Leon (Lucas Belvaux) and she also runs up a considerable debt with the hope that she will have run off with her lover before her husband finds out.This film is directed by Claude Chabrol who specializes in dramas about lust and greed and selfishness and one would think that he would be perfect to direct but truthfully he seems out of his realm with period pieces. This is the ninth version of the 1857 novel by Gustave Flaubert and Chabrol carefully follows the story faithfully and even shot his film in or near Rouen where Flaubert lived but even with all this the film comes across as mostly disconnected and cold. Huppert is arguably the best actress to come out of France in 20 years and she does have some poignant moments and scenes but she just might be to good to play an unfaithful dreamer because she's more adept at portraying more complicated characters. At times she swoons like Emma would in a romantic novel but it doesn't come across as believable even though Huppert generally makes this effort watchable. Chabrol gives us an Emma that is totally unsympathetic and that sounds interesting but it is hard to feel one way or another for her especially considering that this film runs for a solid 2 1/2 hours. If your a fan of Flaubert's novel or of Huppert than you might want to give this a viewing but for others this is probably just to long and emotionally distant to stay with although I personally can watch anything Huppert is in.