GEMMA BOVERY – The Review

Review by Dana Jung

Martin is living a rather mundane life in the Northern France, operating a bakery in a small quaint village. He has an attentive but rather shrewish wife and a teenage son, but they don’t really alleviate the boredom he feels. Martin’s existence, however, gets more interesting when a new neighbor arrives in the form of Gemma Bovery. Martin is immediately smitten with the beautiful and vivacious Englishwoman who at first seems to love her new life in the French countryside. As a fan of the Flaubert classic MADAME BOVERY, Martin also quickly sees similarities between Gemma and the iconic fictional heroine. But are the similarities real or simply a figment of Martin’s rekindled imagination?

The new film GEMMA BOVERY presents a modernized and sometimes playful account of Flaubert’s literary classic. The 160-year old tale about the rise and fall of a Frenchwoman ushered in a more realistic style of storytelling and has influenced female characters for decades. Flaubert, Martin says, was the first to create the character of the “bored woman” in literature.

Gemma Arterton, speaking her role almost entirely in French, is perfection as the fictional Gemma. One of the most sensually beautiful actresses on the planet, Arterton captures the giddy happiness Gemma feels when she first moves to the country with her husband Charlie (Jason Flemyng, a busy character actor most familiar to Amercian audiences in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and HANNA). Her romanticized view of French country life quickly gives way to the realities of leaky roofs and infestations of field mice. And Gemma’s effect on the men around her is magnetic. She is a natural flirt, but even women such as Martin’s wife or another neighbor seem at times mesmerized by the purity of Gemma’s passion for things she likes. Gemma is a person for whom the quest to find things in life is the reason for living, and she finds many things in Northern France. Arterton plays Gemma as almost an innocent in the way she pursues pleasure, never quite sure if what she wants is the right thing or the wrong thing for her. Gemma’s quest is symbolized by her appetite for Martin’s fresh bread, which he bakes in so many different styles and flavors. The literal bread of life plays a pivotal role in the story, as Gemma seems to want to try them all, some more than once, even though she knows that some breads are not good for her. Her marriage to Charlie seems idyllic at first, but we soon learn that she may have wed him while on the rebound from a former lover. A new lover complicates things even further, and as the web of Gemma’s life begins to unravel, we wonder how it will all end.

Madame Bovary has been filmed numerous times, the first in the 1930s by Jean Renoir. Actresses as diverse as Isabelle Huppert, Jennifer Jones, and most recently, Mia Wasikowska have taken on the role.

GEMMA BOVERY director Anne Fontaine tells the story in overlapping time shifts, sometimes repeating the same event from a different perspective which keeps the film fresh and engaging. And even though the tale is rife with tragic overtones, Fontaine balances this with dry humor. One of the ironies of the movie is that Martin does not seem to realize that his own life reflects that of Madame Bovary, resigned to a simple existence where nothing happens. But, as Gemma summarizes the book, “Nothing happens, but at the same time, it’s interesting.” Will life ultimately imitate art and send this Bovery on the path to self-destruction? Nothing may happen, but this charming French essay on a literary classic powered by Gemma Arterton’s wonderful performance, is very interesting indeed.

3 1/2 of 5 Stars

GEMMA BOVERY opens in St. Louis July 10th exclusively at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater