Madame Bovary (1991)

Directed by: Claude Chabrol | 140 minutes | drama | Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Jean-François Balmer, Christophe Malavoy, Jean Yanne, Lucas Belvaux, Christiane Minazzoli, Jean-Louis Maury, Florent Gibassier, Jean-Claude Bouillaud, Sabeline Campo, Yves Verhoeven, Marie Mergey, François Maistre, Thomas Chabrol

The classic novel by Gustave Flaubert had already been filmed eight times before, despite the view of many enthusiasts that the book was unfilmable. Despite this view and the traveled film paths, director Chabrol devoted himself to a ninth version, with Isabelle Huppert in the title role. The film is cleverly made, but eventually succumbs to the pressure of the book’s overly precise retelling. This makes the whole thing boring and long-winded.

Huppert is of course the central character in the film and she knows how to put down an extremely unsympathetic version of Emma Bovary. In any case, she knows how to translate her icy appearance to the screen. It is mainly with her eyes that she manages to convey the passion that burns within her during her odyssey in search of happiness. Huppert does her best and creates a convincing ice princess, were it not for the fact that her coldness makes it difficult to sympathize with her fortunes for more than two hours. And is Emma Bovary such an ice princess as Huppert and Chabrol would have us believe? The danger in portraying such a complex character as Emma is that it becomes a one-sided version. It seems that the creators have gone too far here. That is a serious shortcoming for yet another film version of a famous book, especially when the rest of the film follows the original story so slavishly. Emma Bovary is also a lot less victim of her own romantic dreams and the sweet talk of her lovers in this version. Huppert’s portrayal makes it seem much more like her just because she is so unhappy. The tragic outcome is therefore more a case of “own fault, big bump”. The other actors deliver excellent performances, but most of them also arouse more sympathy. For example, Balmer is very convincing as Doctor Bovary. He means well and he is really devoted to his wife. It’s a shame for him that he married such a shallow and selfish bitch. Also Malvoy as her lover Rodolphe Boulanger is very strong.

In any case, the film is beautifully portrayed. For example, the shots were made in and around Rouen, where Flaubert himself lived, and the ball and opera scenes are well directed – but nothing special compared to other costume dramas. Very disturbing is the suddenly appearing voice-over, which tells what is going on in Emma’s mind. Often a very handy trick in a literary film adaptation to talk parts together, but now the timing mainly arouses resentment. The voice-over is not constantly present, pops up only sporadically and doesn’t really add much. Despite the positives, such as acting, visuals and music, the film has become a bloodless film adaptation, showing the dullness of Emma Bovary’s existence, but failing to flesh out the emotions and passions that have made the book such a classic. to make. And that could never have been the intention.