Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

reneedelf-17019 I like the film. Finally there exists a version done by a woman showing with sensibility the few choices of life for women in the 19th century. I thought the actors and actresses were perfect in their role. In the end, Madame Bovary finds herself without friends and solutions. She understands how naive she has been with men and has no woman friend. Her whole world has collapsed. She can only choose nature as her ultimate friend.I feel that in this version, Flaubert's book main message is being respected. It is mostly about a woman wanting to experience all the pleasures of life and not being able to do it. Because of herself as well as because of her environment.

mkd002 Casting is totally off. Charles Bovary is supposed to be a large, good-natured, undemanding drudge of a man, hard-working and country bumpkin-ish without any slim, well-tailored glamour. Instead we get this svelte, firm, and resolute executive type with patent-leather hair. (Don't know if he ever did it, but the young Gerard Depardieu is the perfect physical type.) This is important because her spouse's rustic dullness as she perceives it has to be seen in the actor chosen. The Emma character has no obvious allure in this adaptation. Why are these men so attracted to her beyond an impression that she'd be "easy"? The whole plot involving Leon's legitimate reasons for visiting the house is mangled, as is the genesis of the attempt by Charles to correct Hippolyte's medical issue and the surgery's outcome. Boneheaded decisions abound, such as the decision to change the sumptuous, romantic ball that quickened Emma's economic and sensual envy into a grubby, sweaty stag hunt. Worst of all its many bad decisions, this film totally eliminates the Bovarys' baby daughter Berthe, whose existence is essential to our understanding of how huge the final tragedy really is and its domino effects far beyond Emma and Charles.I rarely write reviews but, when such violence is done to one of the great works of world literature, I do get annoyed. Apart from a bit of recognition for production values including cinematography, sets, location detail, costumes, I have to give this sloppy, bloodless and point-missing attempt the welcome it deserves.

Brandiw-1 I typically like period pieces which was why I went in hopeful. Good lord, this was just a incredibly terrible movie. I stuck with it to the end thinking (hoping) at some point some resemblance of a halfway decent story-line would surface. However, I feel as though the main character was just very difficult to sympathize with. I was just merely viewing a childish and whiney woman feeling sorry for herself, sleeping around and spending money. It was just...awful. I was not familiar with this being a film adaption of a book. Perhaps someone who actually read the book would have a better background as to the point of this movie but I failed to see it. If you read the book and get it maybe you will like it- the attire was fun to look at- that was the only remotely interesting thing about the movie.

natamity The crunch of the story is forgotten in this diluted adaptation. Anyone not familiar with the story prior to watching this film would be left with the impression that Madame Bovary was a fragile victim who simply fell into circumstances over her head. But this is not who the classic Madame Bovary character was or why she inspired writers and directors to retell her story throughout the years. The classic Madame Bovary is an ambitious, strong-willed woman who connived to continuously improve her status in society, even before she married. She had passion and vision. The character in this film has no redeeming qualities and stumbles through the story as an ungrateful opportunist who becomes less likable as the story progresses. The ethereal atmosphere, cinematography and set design were all remarkable, but combined with the weak storytelling makes this an average film with a forgettable Madame Bovary character.