Gemma Bovery - Ein Sommer mit Flaubert

'Gemma Bovery' is a clever re-working of 'Madame Bovary', Flaubert's 19th century literary masterpiece about the amorous adventures of a provincial doctor's wife. This contemporary version begins with a bookish baker observing the arrival of a London couple in his Normandy town. He immediately becomes obsessed with the lovely Gemma, and starts seeing parallels to his favorite novel after he catches sight of her flirting with an aristocratic law student outside his shop. When the doughy merchant deduces the affairs of 'la belle Anglaise' are spiraling towards disaster, he attempts to save her from the sad fate of the fictional heroine, but his interference only increases the complications of her love life.

Director Anne Fontaine's film is nicely balanced between comedy and drama, tending towards the latter, although the end product is closer to a fluffy confection than a heavyweight main course. Gemma Arterton's piquant performance in the lead role holds the film together, as her straying spouse remains a sympathetic character despite the infidelities. Their work is complemented by the entire cast - especially Fabrice Luchini who turns in a satisfyingly starchy portrayal of the busybody bread-maker - along with some luscious cinematography of the fertile French countryside and the mouth-watering Ms Arterton.

Loved it. Gemma Arterton is irresistible and exudes sexuality - her acting wasn't bad either. Beautifully filmed and very loosely based on the book but the scenery and portrayal of country life in France did it for me. Good opportunity to brush up your French too.

REVIEW OF "GEMMA BOVERY" By Alex Deleon: Viewed at Hollywood Press screening, May 21, 2015.

Martin Joubert, a semi-retired ex-Parisian literary Intellectual with a tremendous passion for the works of famous French novelist Gustave Flaubert, now runs a gourmet bakery in Normandy in the very village where Flaubert wrote his masterpiece Madame Bovary. During the summer an English couple takes up residence in a small farm nearby. Not only are the names of the new arrivals --Gemma and Charles Bovery -- almost identical to the characters in the book, but their everyday life seems to be following Flaubert's story uncannily, step by step, as Martin stalks Gemma's amorous trail about town more or less discretely, hoping to maybe have a little fling with her himself -- His wife, of course, taking a dim view of his excessive interest in this young beautiful bouncy English broad. Life in a spooky imitation of art? --or what! ~ In the novel the heroine ends up poisoned and dies an excruciating death, so where can all this lead...? -- Director Anne Fontaine, (born 1959 in Luxemburg) is an actress and writer who typically works on female centric pictures such as Audry Tautou starrer "Coco Before Chanel", 2009, but here she really hits her stride.

Gemma Arterton (as the tantalizing reincarnation of Emma Bovary) is built along the lines of fellow English lady Jacqueline Bissett at her most buxom (The Deep, 1977), has much of the same charm, and was a real discovery. Fabrice Luchini, one of France's best alĺ around actors, was a taunting pleasure to watch every step of the way as Joubert, the local master baker and Bovary expert, who is enthralled by the very sexy much younger new neighbor from England. He is actually as much the leering center of the picture as sexpot Gemma, but familiarity with the original novel by Flaubert is more or less assumed. Without a fairly good knowledge of French much of the humor contained in the witty dialogue will be lost on American auds. I found myself to be the only member of the full house evening audience chuckling at many points in the picture.

Nevertheless, the story itself is gripping, the cinematography gorgeous, and the erotic scenes strapping enough to make this work for higher I.Q. American audiences. I thought the ending was a little forced -- like the tacked on resolution at the end of a whodunnit murder mystery --but who cares when the rest of the picture was so delectable. The fragrance of the breads in the frequent boulangerie scenes were so appetising as to make anyone who has ever been to Paris (or Rouen!) want to get back there ASAP. Overall, a delightful way to spend an evening away from France. Alex, The morning after, still somewhat in cinematic thrall ...

Gemma Bovery is a movie based on Flaubert's Madame Bovary, but modernised and very meta as Gemma Bovery seems, according to the narrator, bound to follow the same path as the novel's central character. Starring Gemma Arterton as Gemma Bovery, it's easy to see why her neighbour, the village baker and the film's narrator, becomes completely besotted with her. She's radiant and effortlessly sexy from the moment we first encounter Gemma and her husband, played by Jason Flemyng, as they arrive at their new home in a small Normandy village. Soon, she is well acquainted by the locals, especially her neighbour, as played by Fabrice Luchini, who can't seem to think about much else other than this beautiful girl who seems to have come straight out of the pages of his favourite novel. With less assured direction and an actor without the affable qualities of Luchini, his gazes upon Gemma and longing monologues may seem quite creepy, but this is a romantic who acts more than ably as an audience surrogate for the events in this small hamlet. Gemma, like the Madame Bovary of the novel, succumbs to temptation and enters into an affair with a young man studying at his parents' house nearby, which causes much concern for her neighbour, who sees parallels between her and her fictional namesake. Which may not make for high drama, but I found this movie incredibly charming and easy to fall for, much like the gorgeous and talented Arterton who, in one particular scene, does for kneading bread what Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore done for pottery in Ghost. Arterton also plays her character just right, because this isn't a woman scorned or downtrodden. She knows her own mind and has depths that are slowly revealed. In the wrong hands she may have been quite unlikable, but here, despite her mistakes, she's always endearing. As is the bucolic plenty of the Parisian countryside. It's only in the movie's final moments that it plays a sour note that seems unnecessary, whilst an obscure ending shifts the tone just too far. But this is a bit of a treat and a genuine surprise.

Ah, the English-French culture clash! Loved the sad-faced neighbour and his forever critical wife. And their dog Gus. And then the local Englishman who loves France for its cheese and wine (only?). And his gushy French wife. And the local Adonis' mother. These are all truly memorable comic characters. They are more interesting than the central couple, the Boverys. They make it well worth watching. The odd well-chosen Anglo-Saxon word or phrase (sometimes in French!) puts everyone in their place, including poor Gus! Nice soundtrack too.