Gemma Bovery
23/02/17 Filed in: Amazon Prime
I had read about this film when it was released and although it wasn't included in Amazon's free Prime offers, I decided to fork out £3.49 to see it. The attraction was that it had a fair amount of French dialogue and it stars Gemma Arteton, who I find very attractive.
The plot involves a baker, Martin, who, having eschewed the life as a publisher in Paris, has returned to his little home town to run his late father's bakery. Onto the scene arrives Gemma Bovery and Charles her husband, an English couple who have bought a rundown house opposite the baker's home. Martin is immediately taken with Gemma, constantly looking at her to the point of leering - "goodbye to sexual tranquility". But that's not his only interest in her. He is fascinated by the fact that a 'Bovery' has moved into the area, the very region where Gustave Flaubert, the author of Madame Bovary, was born, and where his famous novel was set.
His fascination deepens when Gemma appears to be having a liaison with a young man, Hervé, whose family is local aristocracy. The parallels with Flaubert's novel intrigue Martin. He imagines himself as a director of a film and casts these characters into their present roles. To Martin the parallels with the Madame Bovary novel are glaringly obvious, even if they're not so to his wife and son. Emma and Charles from the novel become Gemma and Charles. In the novel Emma's romantic involvements don't end well, and Martin fears that the same fate awaits Gemma. He therefore takes steps to try to end her affair with Hervè.
The plot involves a baker, Martin, who, having eschewed the life as a publisher in Paris, has returned to his little home town to run his late father's bakery. Onto the scene arrives Gemma Bovery and Charles her husband, an English couple who have bought a rundown house opposite the baker's home. Martin is immediately taken with Gemma, constantly looking at her to the point of leering - "goodbye to sexual tranquility". But that's not his only interest in her. He is fascinated by the fact that a 'Bovery' has moved into the area, the very region where Gustave Flaubert, the author of Madame Bovary, was born, and where his famous novel was set.
His fascination deepens when Gemma appears to be having a liaison with a young man, Hervé, whose family is local aristocracy. The parallels with Flaubert's novel intrigue Martin. He imagines himself as a director of a film and casts these characters into their present roles. To Martin the parallels with the Madame Bovary novel are glaringly obvious, even if they're not so to his wife and son. Emma and Charles from the novel become Gemma and Charles. In the novel Emma's romantic involvements don't end well, and Martin fears that the same fate awaits Gemma. He therefore takes steps to try to end her affair with Hervè.
Into the mix arrives Patrick, a former boyfriend of Gemma's, who ditched her, but she nevertheless can't seem to get him out of her system. Martin is now becoming very concerned over how things are developing, Gemma's multiple liaisons mirroring Emma's in the novel. Charles has by this time returned to London, feeling that Gemma had lost interest in him and realising the probable reason. In the end Gemma realises that her life with Charles is actually what she wants and asks him to return. However, he arrives just as Gemma is trying to tell Patrick that everything is over. What ensues comes as a bit of a surprise. Needless to say Martin is sure that he knows what has happened. But he is completely wrong.
The critics were a bit tepid about this film but I enjoyed it. The ending is by one measure a bit farcical but looked at another way it shows how Martin, Charles and Patrick each contribute to Gemma's fate, although personally I felt that Charles was the decent guy. Martin was just delusional and more than a bit besotted. Whereas Patrick was the type that women inexplicably seem to like but from a male perspective it's difficult to understand why.
The critics were a bit tepid about this film but I enjoyed it. The ending is by one measure a bit farcical but looked at another way it shows how Martin, Charles and Patrick each contribute to Gemma's fate, although personally I felt that Charles was the decent guy. Martin was just delusional and more than a bit besotted. Whereas Patrick was the type that women inexplicably seem to like but from a male perspective it's difficult to understand why.