Madame Bovary (1991) | Jennifer Jones, James Mason | Masterful adaptation of a difficult piece.

Madame Bovary (1991) | Jennifer Jones, James Mason | A fine romance

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Madame Bovary (1991)

	Madame Bovary (1991) Jennifer Jones, James Mason MGM (Warner), 1999 average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Masterful adaptation of a difficult piece.

Madame Bovary is a difficut piece to translate to film. It is very easy for the heroine to become either dislikable: either willfull (the PBS version with Francesca Annis) or peevish (the Isabelle Hubert french version).

What Minnelli so masterfully and ironically captures here is the "dream machine" that drives Madame Bovary (and society) to be dissatisfied with their daily lives, to want and need more and therefore to be perpetually unhappy with what they have. Of course, Minnelli was part of that machine for Hollywood, which is the irony. Here he uses the period-correct analogy of romance novels and magazine ads (and to a lesser extent operas and plays) as vehicles that feed and drive Bovary's dissonance with her reality. (James Mason as Flaubert, too!)

The irony that Flaubert was faulted for denegrating the french woman is fully captured here as well. This version still doesn't get to a real meaty statement of realization that men were not considered immorral or corrupt it they have affairs and forget about their children; but women were. Personally, I think that may have been one of Flaubert's real points - this same behavior would have been tolerated and venerated in a male.

Where this production succeeds so brilinatly over the others I mentioned is in the writing and performance of Emma. She is clearly delineated as being a victim of the commercials of her time - the ultimate consumer, and therefore very identifiable. Jone's own personal charm also factors in here. Her fresh innocence and desire to be liked and to entertain come through the role and make her sweeter. Annis is often a bit self satisfied and Hubbert ice cold, making their Emmas less likable, although perfectly valid and well performed roles, just the difference that writing, production and acting bring to the role.

Minnelli liked women and identified with foibles. He gives a very nice slant to Dr. Bovary, too. (Gives him a little more self knowledge and honor than Flaubert did, which also colors the relationship and the film.) Louis Jordan as her dream man is also colored very nicely here, as being sincerely in love with her and very conflicted. Something he does very well, and this all creates a marvelously satisfying production and package. When you add the great score, you have a very fine film indeed.

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A fine romance

"Madame Bovary" is a lesser-known jewel of Hollywood's Golden Age. It was following in the footsteps of the epic "Gone with the wind" from a decade before, not an easy path to tread. "Madame Bovary" is a slice of life story of rural France,a contrast to the Civil War-era South.

"Madame Bovary" is framed with a fascinating device- Gustave Flabuert (James Mason) being put on trial for his "obscene" and "immoral" novel. Flaubert makes the argument that Bovary's downfall lay in being raised on romance novels;it was her upbringing,beyond her control,that made her the way she was.

Jennifer Jones is luminous as the romantic,unhappy,morbidly sentimental Madame Bovary. She transforms the adulterous,pathetic woman into a sympathetic character. Van Heflin is quietly marvelous as her plain,hard-working doctor husband. Madame Bovary longs for a passionate life like the characters she reads about in romance novels;a female Don Quixote. Instead of tilting at windmills,she finds herself playing with the lances of handsome younger men. Louis Jordan brings his Gallic good looks&charm to his role as one of Bovary's younger lovers.

Vincente Minnelli's production of "Madame Bovary" is a little jewel. He shows adultery&its devastating consequences. While he simplifies the novel,he also makes Flaubert's clinical writing style into something deeply human&meaningful. "Madame Bovary" is highly underrated. It's a silver screen classic from Hollywood's Golden Age.

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an amazing movie!

I had heard of "Madame Bovary," and even seen clips from it, but I was blown away by seeing the entire film. Jennifer Jones brings such depth to Flaubert's restless character, it's the hallmark of what defines an "actress." (I read somewhere that Lana Turner was slated to play the part, one can only imagine her one dimension ability in this.) The entire cast is wonderful, Van Heflin as her long suffering husband, Louis Jordan as her would be lover & Christopher Kent as the man she thinks can bail her out of her financial difficulties. Emma Bovary is a restless young girl, whose visions of love & marriage have been stoked by romantic novels & pretty pictures. She marries and finds out all is not as she thought it would be & therein lies the tale of deceit, contempt & ultimate tragedy. Also in the cast, long before they were TV icons, are Harry Morgan of M*A*S*H, as a dimwitted clubfoot & Ellen Corby of The Waltons, as the Bovary's maid. The celebrated ballroom scene is a marvel, considering the film was released in 1949. Director Vincente Minnelli once again amazes us with his fabulous direction.

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breathtaking costumes, great acting and direction

If anyone values the importance of presentation, it has to be Jennifer Jones. In the beginning of the movie, we see her behind the scenes just barely, dressed like a shabby servant. She runs upstairs after the doctor arrives, only to appear later in a Walter Plunkett masterpiece, preparing breakfast for the young doctor (Van Heflin). What a cinderella makeover....in less than five minutes. And when she arrives at the ball and removes her shawl, she immediatelly puts all the ladies in the ballroom to shame with her extraordiary beauty and gown. My breath was taken away in almost every scene with every outfit. And all this does not detract from her fantastic acting performance of the highly neurotic Emma Bovary. She really deserved an Oscar for her acting in this amazing movie. I am so glad she filmed this movie and gave what I think was a glowing incandescent performance. In fact, everyone connected with the film was great. Don't miss this one. Also, notice the magnificent sound track by Miklos Rozsa. It has to be one of his best.

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Great crack-whore scene at the end

The differences between Minnelli's film and the novel (especially the Dover Thrift Edition translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling, Karl Marx' daughter) make for interesting classroom discussion. Many themes parallel contemporary life - the notion that `things' will make us happy, obsession with fame, and the crack-whore (so aptly called by a college student) scene at the end.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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