Madame Bovary

Yet again we have an incarnation of Flaubert's novel of infidelity and this time the transformation of the book to screen (by Felipe Marino and director Sophie Barthes) is, at best, weak. The pacing of the film is adagio and the cast is adequate if unremarkable. The only standout in the film is the costumer and the strange but adequately atmospheric music by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine.

For those who have forgotten the story, 'In mid-1800s Normandy, France, farmer's daughter Emma (Mia Wasikowska) leaves the convent where she was educated and marries a young doctor, Charles Bovary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). With high hopes for a fulfilling and romantic future like the ones she reads about in novels, Emma leaves her childhood home and loving father, moving to the small town of Yonville where Charles has based his practice. While Charles loves his new wife, he is consumed by his work and is out of the house all day visiting patients. During their brief daily time together, Emma is bored and repulsed by his talk of ailments and dull business affairs, and Charles is all but oblivious to her ennui. With no regular company besides their maid, Henriette (Laura Carmichael), Emma becomes a vulnerable client to the crafty local merchant Lheureux (Rhys Ifans), who entices her with luxury goods available for purchase on credit. Emma soon befriends a young clerk, Leon Dupuis (Ezra Miller), who shares her romantic frame of mind and disdain for provincial Yonville. Emma longs to go to Paris and immerse herself in the culture, and has quickly tired of her dull existence as a country doctor's wife. Leon secretly confesses his love to Emma, who, despite the mutual attraction, dismisses his advances. Leon departs for law studies in Paris. Charles and Emma are invited to a hunting party by the Marquis d'Andervilliers (Logan Marshall- Green), who had dropped by Doctor Bovary's house to have one of his servants treated. The Marquis was immediately attracted to Emma, who becomes so excited about the excursion into high society that she orders expensive clothes from Lheureux for the occasion. At the party, she is entranced by the luxury of the upper-class and by the subtle advances of the Marquis, whom she meets once more at an agricultural show. Emma's thirst for extravagance only grows, and she begins to spend liberally to beautify the house and her wardrobe, all on credit from Lheureux. She also takes the advice of local pharmacist Homais (Paul Giamatti) and convinces her husband to operate on the club-foot of Homais' servant Hippolyte (Luke Tittensor) and become a celebrated surgeon. The surgery fails. Ashamed of her husband's incompetence and feeling all the more stifled, Emma visits the Marquis at his home and confesses her misery. They begin an affair, with Emma making regular trips on foot through the woods to visit him. Charles has no inkling of his wife's unhappiness in the marriage or of her affair. Emma eventually begs the Marquis to run away with her, and though he initially refuses, he calms her by promising to make arrangements to elope.' And to tell the rest would be consider spoilers.

Mediocre at best this is a very long song that could have been so much better in so many ways.

Mia Wasikowska as Emma Bovary is one of the worst casting decisions I've ever seen. I read the book quite a while ago but I remember picturing her as pretty, delicate, vivacious, fun-loving, lively, romantic, naive and gullible. Wasikowska projects none of these qualities. Emma is supposed to transform into a depressed, frustrated, shadow of her former self, dulled by her uneventful country life with a dull husband she doesn't love before turning to other men and recklessly spending money she doesn't have to bring some excitement into her life.

In the movie she seems to meet her first male distraction the day after her wedding and then falls in love with the marquis simply by looking at him, demanding he rescue her from her disappointing life and sweep her off to a high society life almost immediately. Incidentally, the first time they see each other is during a stag hunt, when Emma rides astride her horse - surely not in rural France during the mid-18th century?

Emma seems to attract men like flies, although I can't see anything in Wasikowska's Emma that would attract any man.

And what's going on with the accent mash up?! Most of the characters, including Emma, sound American, but her father has a French accent, others sound English and Rhys Ifans... I don't know what is going on there but sometimes he sounds slightly French, sometimes purely French and at other times completely English.

The most frustrating thing about this film is that there is no sense of time passing. Everything seems to happen within a couple of weeks.

Visually though, it is beautiful and there are some excellent moments and scenes. Watch it for the gorgeous costumes and setting if not the actors or the plot!

I loved the novel and was looking forward to the movie. Stopped watching when I first saw Leon. This actor is too young for that role. The color of his voice, his laughter, the look on his face, the overall expression - he looks 18. That ruined the movie for me. What on Earth were they thinking?! Emma would never fall for a guy like that.

Oh, talking about Emma... Seriously? Mia Wasikowska? The same way I think they made a mistake with choosing Keira Knightley for Anna Karenina, I think she would have been much better choice for Emma, in this case.

OK, enough of bad criticism now. This movie looks expensive and very endearing for the eyes. Both, the costumes and the scenery look realistic. I would imagine XIX century France like this.

First, the short summary at the top of the IMDb page COMPLETELY MISREPRESENTS the plot of the movie and novel. Madame Bovary is not simply cheating on her husband to advance her social status.

Her affairs are part of a much more profound struggle for transcendence from the ordinary life in which she feels trapped. That's why the novel is a classic of modern literature. The way IMDb puts it makes it sound like a cheap Lifetime movie.

Second, Mia Wasikowska is a fine actress but I've always imagined Madame Bovary as a much more sensual woman.

Third, I think Ezra Miller was terribly miscast as Leon Dupuis. Not to disparage his acting, but he's far too young and effeminate to be an object of desire for Emma Bovary.

While the film was beautifully shot, it otherwise doesn't quite do justice to Flaubert. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

Emma (Mia Wasikowska) leaves the convent to marry boring country doctor Charles Bovary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). Life is dull. She flirts with awkward law clerk Léon Dupuis (Ezra Miller) and has an affair with the dashing Marquis d'Andervilliers (Logan Marshall-Green). She spends outrageously beyond her means and lecherous Monsieur Lheureux (Rhys Ifans) is too willing to give her credit. Monsieur Homais (Paul Giamatti) is the pharmacist friend.

Everybody speaks softly especially Mia. Her dull life is filmed in long scenes which only accentuates the dullness and infects the movie with its dullness. At least, the dullness is quite convincing. Mia needs to pierce that dullness with more powerful passionate acting but she is going for callous and wanting. She is still the heroine. It's all very subdue. I'm no literary person and maybe she is supposed to be this way. I can't comment on the accuracy of the depiction. It would be more compelling for her to embrace the darkness. It is beautiful in a moody sunset period piece way but it doesn't have the exuberance. It's kinda dull.