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MADAME BOVARY Send This Review to a Friend
The new adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” by Sophie Barthes, who wrote the screenplay with Felipe Marino, is rich in cinematic beauty but rather bland in its lead performance by Mia Wasikowska. The film was showcased at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and is now in commercial release.
This is the latest attempt to bring to the screen the famous novel. In the present incarnation the cinematography by Andrij Parekh captures the aura of 19th century France in scene after scene, so that this “Madame Bovary” is always striking to behold.
As for Wasikowska, she is certainly attractive to watch, and it is inevitably interesting to follow the ups and downs of the renowned character’s life. But an important dramatic spark is lacking, requiring us to read more into her performance than is overtly evident.
Thus the film, enhanced by Benoît Barouh’s production design, is consistently lovely, but the necessary excitement is missing, considering the power of the story that still commands interest.
The supporting cast fares somewhat better, including performances by Paul Giamatti, Rhys Ifans, Laura Carmichael, Ezra Miller, Logan Marshall-Green and Henry Lloyd-Hughes. (For a more entertaining experience, check out the riff on Flaubert’s classic, the new “Gemma Bovery.”) An Alchemy release. Reviewed June 12, 2015.
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