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Madame Bovary
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Intelligently Done
Review date: 2008-10-16 Rating: 8 out of 10
Lets face it, Madame Bovary was always going to be difficult to produce. The story really centres around Dr Bovary, and Emma Bovary is his second wife, and you have to read about his first marriage until you get to Emma. Although I am a fan of Flaubert and Madame Bovary, as well as many others, I can also see where a large group of people are coming from when they say that this book is one of the most boring written.Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics) if you would like to read the book.
This production is not a straight transposition of the novel, opening as it does after Dr Bovary has lost his first wife. We see in this drama Dr Bovary getting Emma to become his second wife. Emma has been brought up spoiled by her father. Dr Bovary has been brought up by his domineering mother, and doesn't really have that much gumption. Whilst Emma fantasises about the perfect lives she reads in her novels, Dr Charles Bovary is more pratical. Stuck in the provinces Emma feels stifled and living a life full of drugdery. We must not forget that the full title of the book is Madame Bovary Provincil Lives, and that is what this drama shows. Nineteenth century life in the provinces was a much different existence from the lights and bustle of Paris.
Emma is shown sympathetically in this production, and those familiar with the book will know that a lot of women felt that Flaubert was writing about them. After all, Emma is stuck in the provinces with her husband who is always out on calls, her over bearing mother in law, and no friends or social life. She wants a life that doesn't feel stifled, she wants new clothes, she wants to enjoy herself and have romance. For Emma this leads to retail therapy, but with that age old problem, not enough cash. Those women who have maxed out on their credit cards will know what Emma feels like not being able to have enough money. Emma turns to the draper, who also runs a money-lending business on the side.
So Emma, who can now wear all the latest fashions looks around for romance, and from just flirting takes a lover. To cut a story short, Emma does not find a bed of roses, and eventually after two lovers, a daughter from her husband and bankruptcy, she feels that life is too much to bear, and thus decides to end it all.
What really brings this drama to life is the beautiful and sexy Frances O'Connor as Emma Bovary. Whereas Madame Bovary was banned by the Catholic Church for its immorality, people have always understood what Emma Bovary goes through. This is really a good two and a half hours of viewing.
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Reviews
was ok
Review date: 2008-07-13 Rating: 6 out of 10
I have not read the book, so am new to the characters. I thought Emma came across as selfish, silly, and vain - a highly irritating character ! The men - Charles, Rudolphe and Léon, are all very different, but it doesn't really explain what they saw in her, apart from an easy lay maybe ! She even tries seducing an errand boy....
Worth one watch, that's about it.
mme bovary
Review date: 2008-01-02 Rating: 6 out of 10
I watched this right after finishing the novel and found it disappointing. The production lacked the dark edge and ironic humour of the book and the characterisation of Emma was all wrong. O'Conner played her as sweet, almost likeable, whereas in the novel she is cruel to her husband and child, utterly selfish and self absorbed, with a narcissistic tendency to self delusion and religiosity.
The village in the novel is a suffocating place, Emma's house is right on the road and she can see everyone go by and hear the relentless droning of the lathe maker at work. In the novel it was a lot poorer and more rural too. Flaubert wants Emma to be utterly revolted by the world in which she finds herself after her marriage. Charles, her husband, is far more clown-like and stupid than he was portrayed in the film, but Rodolphe was good and Leon too, their differences were well brought out in the film.
If you didn't know the book the film is pleasant enough and easy on the eye but the novel deserves a better, darker and far more serious interpretation.
It is hard to bring a great novel to the screen in all its complexity and richness, but this version doesn't seem to try to come close.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Claire Hackett
Frances O'Connor
Hugh Bonneville
Eileen Atkins
Adam Cooper
Creators:
Frances O'Connor (Primary Contributor)
Claire Hackett (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503193423
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-03-13
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 150 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)