A Sedutora Madame Bovary

This MGM film sure sports a terrific cast--Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin and Louis Jordan! However, no matter how good the cast and production values are, this is a film that was very, very difficult to produce in 1940s Hollywood due to the restrictions of the Production Code. This code precluded the film from fully realizing Flaubert's novel, as frank discussions of sexuality were not possible--the film never would have been cleared for public exhibition. So, the studio softened it here and there--and reduced the impact any film about this book could have had. I am sure a more modern version of the book would be quite a bit different--ad Madame Bovary's infidelities been a lot less vague.

The film begins with Dr. Bovary coming to Emma's home to treat her father. The Doctor is quite taken by her and eventually marries her--making her Madame Bovary. While quite pretty, there are some serious warning signs that went unnoticed. First, Emma was a bit childish and lived in a fantasy-sort of world where she expected real life to be like a romance novel! As a result, she's ill-equipped to deal with the boredom that comes with everyday life--as she expects constant passion, excitement and variety--not knowing even the rich and powerful live that way! Second, there is a huge disparity between the head in the clouds Emma and her rather nice but bland husband. He cannot possibly live up to her ridiculously high expectations of a man--and soon she goes searching for excitement on her own. Not surprisingly, she gravitates towards affairs, though in time, these, too, are unsatisfying--even lovers cannot always create excitement and distractions. Eventually, this leads to disaster and the story ends.

Not surprisingly, many story elements have been omitted--some due to the code and some due to the confines of a full-length film. For example, the Doctor's first marriage and significant periods in Emma's life are absent--though the spirit of the book is mostly intact.

While not exactly intended, the film seems to be an interesting portrait of what we might now consider to be a Borderline Personality or at least a person with strong Borderline traits. The inability to cope with boredom, interpersonal shallowness, the tendency to self-sabotage and craving for excitement and addiction (in this case, sexual and spending addiction) are all important hallmarks of this disorder. Such classifications were unknown in Flaubert's time, though he clearly seems to be describing such a person in Emma Bovary.

There is only one problem with such a portrait, however. Emma Bovary is in no way sympathetic--she is selfish, vain and pretty stupid. And, to make things worse, her husband is an utter fool as well, as he willfully ignores his wife's 'excesses'. As a result, it's a lovely movie to watch (it is a very glossy MGM production) but its also detached and hard to love...much like Madame Bovary herself!

Madame Bovary is directed by Vincente Minnelli and adapted to screenplay by Robert Ardrey from the Gustave Flaubert novel. It stars Jennifer Jones, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin, Gene Lockhart and James Mason. Music is by Miklós Rózsa and cinematography by Robert H. Planck.

It's most interesting now watching Minnelli's picture and being able to place it in the time it was made. Also of major interest is reading up on what the critics of the time had to say about it. This version is an undoubted lesson in the technical crafts of film making, the visuals, the sound, art design, costuming and a literary pumped screenplay that allows the cast to play it classical. It's also black hearted, perfectly in keeping with the gathering storm of the era that was film noir.

Here is the monster.

Some of the complaints about the film, to me anyway, just don't add up. Why do we need to care about anyone in this story? It's a dark tale of illicit passions, greed, betrayals, bad parenting and etc. Is this frowned upon in some circles because of love for the classic novel? Or because there's some esteem held for other versions? The criticism of Jones is also very suspect given it's a classic femme fatale performance, Emma is cold and driven and shallow to others feelings, Jones works it perfectly.

As Rózsa's beautiful lush and poignant musical arrangements drift and hover over the various story instalments, Minnelli brings the film making guile. His camera work is sublime, like a ghost moving about the characters for the more vibrant scenes, tracking and roving, dizzyingly beautiful. At others it's close and personal, imbuing Emma's claustrophobia, with the black and white contrasts superbly photographed by Planck.

So it doesn't capture the essence of Flaubert's intent, then? Emma Bovary a figure of hate instead of sympathy, the lack of a caustic aside on a society of double standards? So what! Outstanding film making is just that, especially when it can tune into a style of film making prevalent at its birth. Madame Bovary - maybe the most film noir movie not actually considered a film noir. Brilliant. 9/10

Three versions stand out as far as Flaubert's classic is concerned:the Jean Renoir one,with Valentine Tessier,which has not worn well,the acting has become unconvincing and almost lurid when you see it today,Minelli's version and Claude Chabrol's starring Isabelle Huppert ,which doesn't avoid totally academism,despite Jean-François Balmer's portrayal of Charles that steals the show . Now for Minelli 's attempt:some have been hard on his rendition,and however,it features the best Emma ever:Jennifer Jones,the romantic heroine par excellence.Her savage beauty,looking tense,triumphs here. The supporting acts are well-chosen:Van Heflin is oafish,meek.The French Louis Jourdan is well-cast as Rodolphe Boulanger,Emma's lover who betrays her and leaves her to despair.Their final confrontation,in Boulanger's luxury mansion oozes hatred and contempt. The main drawback is the rural background:Minelli did not realize how this country life disgusted Emma:the wedding,a very very peasant one ,which Flaubert describes in lavish detail,is too short on the screen.The farms are too clean-Emma dreamed her childhood away because she could not stand the mediocrity of her milieu.She jumped out of the frying pan into the fire:a two-bit doctor,a would-be sawbones who 's totally incompetent.Van Heflin's rendering makes up for Minelli's weaknesses.The movie is sandwiched between two brief scenes of Flaubert 's trial (He was accused of immorality in his book),that's redundant.It would have been better to tell the audience about Emma's daughter's terrible fate:after the doctor's death,an orphan,she becomes a worker in a spinning mill.Supreme decay for a mother who was longing to be a socialite.

Jennifer Jones was a star I knew well from visits to the cinema with my family during the 1950's: "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit", "The Barretts of Whimpole Street", "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and "A Farewell to Arms".

I cut in on her at a certain stage in her career. She was a bit older than my mum, and although I liked her she didn't have the effect on a prepubescent lad that Yvette Mimieux or Tuesday Weld were having.

It wasn't until later, when we got television, that I saw the movies she made earlier in her career; "Song of Bernadette, "Duel in the Sun", "Portrait of Jennie", "Carrie" and this one: Vincente Minnelli's "Madame Bovary". What an absolute stunner she was.

Emma Bovary (Jennifer Jones) is the beautiful daughter of a poor French family, but she has an overactive imagination fostered by romantic novels.

She marries a country doctor Charles Bovary (Van Heflin) who she doesn't really love hoping to advance her standing in society and pursue her romantic dreams. However she soon outspends her husband's capacity to earn. In an era before credit cards, she maxes-out on credit notes.

Emma attracts men like moths to a flame, and cheats on her husband who still loves her despite everything. There are tears before the final fade out.

The film is bookended with the trial of Gustave Flaubert who wrote the original novel. Apparently the story so outraged the French hierarchy that they took old Gustave to court. He got off and of course the book became a bestseller.

The filmmakers used the trial to allow Gustave (James Mason) to narrate the story - quoting passages of Flaubert's prose. Although narration can be a lazy device in film, in this case, Mason's mellifluous voice puts us in the picture quickly. More importantly, Emma is seen sympathetically despite being hopelessly self-focused.

Two actors added the final touch of class to the 1949 version. Van Heflin is such a nice guy here that we are waiting for someone to smack Emma to her senses. Louis Jordan gives another variation on that smooth roué he played in "Letter to an Unknown Woman" - a not dissimilar drama.

Composer Miklos Rozsa surpassed himself with the score. With its beautiful main theme for Emma and flowing melodies it sweeps you along.

A 2014 version did away with narration. It's more low-key, but quite good with a totally different vibe to the Minnelli version. It was filmed in France and is more explicit with a fair bit of nudity. Jennifer Jones was fortunate that her movie career was in an era where she didn't have to worry about getting in shape for that kind of thing.

Film opens at Flaubert's (Mason) 1857 trial for obscenity in France. After the prosecution finishes its' case, Flaubert answers; his answer frames a flashback to Emma Bovary's (Jones) story.

She grows up on an isolated farm, and is further isolated by her convent education. She grows up believing and fantasizing about love and romance, and that they happen in real life as in fiction. When Dr. Bovary (Heflin) comes to treat her fathers' broken leg, she sees him as her Prince Charming and falls in love with him. After the two marry, they go to the village in Normandy where Charles lives. .

Jones is extraordinary as Madame Bovary. She hits all the right notes as a girl who can't/doesn't separate fantasy from reality. She is marvelously subtle as a woman who switches from role to role in her fantasy life, and doesn't let reality intrude until it's too late. She at least deserved a Best Actress nomination from the Academy.

Van Heflin is good if overemphatic and too American as Emma's husband. Louis Jourdan is just about perfect as Emma's seducer who literally sweeps her off her feet. James Mason is fine as Flaubert.

Miklos Rozsa contributed a fine score, with especially notable music for the ball scene. Vincent Minnelli's direction is subtle. This is a very good film for a tearjerker. Jones and Minnelli are at their best.