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Bookmark this pageMadame Bovary (1991)
Director: Claude Chabrol
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Chabrol's long-delayed adaptation of Flaubert's novel is as suffocating as its heroine's predicament. Emma, the ambitious farmer's daughter taken for a wife by arch-mediocrity Dr Bovary (Jean-François Balmer in a perfectly controlled performance), has been the subject of see-sawing literary interpretations since the 1860s. Chabrol sticking to the letter of the text avoided the temptation to cast her in a modernised feminist role and stressed instead her stifling limitation of choices in provincial 19th century France. Isabelle Huppert, often a blood-drained, internalised actress, outdoes herself here, playing Emma in a distracted, half-comatose state, resuscitated briefly by the odd gowned ball or the lifeline to passion proffered by heart-breaker Rodolphe (Malavoy). The birth of a child fails to bring light into her eyes. A classical art movie saturated with Chabrol's dark romantic pessimism.Author: WH
User reviews of this film
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- E A Dobson said...
- Posted on Apr 29 2011 17:41 Please bare in mind i know nothing of the original novel or other filmed versions of this story.The dvd came free with a newspaper & after reading 2 poor reviews i very nearly didn`t watch it.In fact the only reason i did is because i`d seen Huppert in The Piano Teacher many years ago.It`s a similarly cold performance(which may/will put some viewers off),not quite as cruel as in that film but i presume Michael Haneke saw her in this before casting.Also mentioned in the TO review above is Balmer who also gives a noteworthy performance.One of the reviews i read on amazon mentioned time & again how boring this film is but i personally wasn`t bored for one minute,Huppert seems to me one of the very best actresses on the planet,Meryl Streep eat your heart out! seriously! and i like Meryl Streep.The only other film by Claude Chabrol i`ve seen is Le Boucher,which i loved,but this is a costume drama and not a very happy one,so if you`ve read this review you know what to expect! The film loses one star for the narrator,who i had a small problem with.
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Cast & crew
Director: Claude Chabrol
Producer: Marin Karmitz
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Jean-François Balmer, Christophe Malavoy, Jean Yanne, Lucas Belvaux full cast
Duration: 129 mins
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