Emma Bovary (Mia Wasikowska) is married to Doctor Charles Bovary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). Whilst the young French woman seems happy at the beginning, her life progressively becomes boring. Emma spends bland days. Nothingness appears to rule her monotonous existence. And yet, Mrs Bovary dreams of a better and more exciting life. She does her best to distract herself and escape this mortal routine. Therefore, Emma starts spending money she does not have, and love men she should not.
Although Madame Bovary, based on the eponymous French novel, is a pleasant film, it remains inferior to Flaubert’s masterpiece. Whilst Gustave Flaubert managed to adroitly narrate a story about boredom without boring readers, the film, directed by Sophie Barthes, is incapable of addressing this theme in a captivating way. The story on the screen struggles to fascinate viewers.Translating the boredom on a screen is really difficult as the imaginative process is totally killed. The cinematographic production, contrary to the book, fails at transmitting Emma’s feelings and thoughts. Here is the greatest flaw of the film. This lack of depth prevent viewers from understanding Emma’s choices and reactions. Emma from the novel is more complex and developed than the woman introduced on the screen.Two hours are definitely not enough to convey the delicate beauty and poetry from the book. The rhythm is too fast to actually reproduce the particular atmosphere of Flaubert’s marvelous literary creation. The story has unfortunately been too simplified to meet cinematographic conventions.
Moreover, her relationship with her husband Charles Bovary is superficially tackled. Charles in the film greatly differs from the character described in the novel. Charles on the screen is too glamourised. He almost appears as a brave and attractive man. It is not the case in the novel. Flaubert’s Charles is weak, fearful, and quite pathetic. The man severely lacks ambition. In the novel, readers can understand Emma’s reactions and decisions. The film tends to denature the book by telling the story with an external and neutral look. It should have followed the novel and transmit the story under Emma’s viewpoint. The film would have increased its quality status.
However the film manages to represent the vanity of Emma. The best scenes revolve around her endless quest for more. She wants more money, more prestige, more lovers, more excitement. Her evolution in the film is well illustrated. At the beginning, she is this pure and fragile woman who starts a new life. And she progressively becomes this miserable and desperate person who is looking for a life of excess. She becomes selfish, irrational and arrogant.
Madame Bovary is a satisfying film which unfortunately does not properly honour Flaubert’s chef-d’oeuvre.
Not just a film 