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Released by: Alchemy/Prescience
Released on: August 4, 2014
Director: Sophie Barthes
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Paul Giamatti, Ezra Miller, Rhys Ifans, Logan Marshall-Green, Oliver Gourmet, Laura Carmichael
Year: 2014
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The Movie:
In Normandy, France during the mid-1800s, Emma Rouault (Mia Wasikowska), the teenaged daughter of a pig farmer (Oliver Gourmet), ill-advisedly weds handsome country doctor Charles Bovary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). Quickly bored shitless with married life in the rural village of Yonville, Emma takes to filling the emptiness within with shopping. The lack of funds to do so is no problem—in the short term, at least—thanks to local merchant Monsieur Lheureux (Rhys Ifans), who is happy to extend her credit until she's in well over her head. She also makes friends with Leon Dupuis (Ezra Miller), a young clerk preparing to study law in Paris. When the attraction between them becomes undeniable, Leon begs her to run away with him. She turns down that opportunity for adultery for another one, which presents itself when wealthy bad boy Marquis d'Andervilliers (Logan Marshall-Green) enters the picture. As that affair escalates, however, so does her emotional and material neediness. When her demands that the Marquis commit to her become too shrill to dismiss, he at last agrees. But when the appointed hour of elopement arrives, she gets not a secure, happy life with a rich, upper-class lover, but instead a basket of apricots and a "Dear Jane" letter. Not long thereafter, her path again crosses Leon's, and this time she decides he's worth sleeping with after all. It's also at this point that merchant Lheureux decides that he's waited for his money for exactly as long as he cares to.
The consensus among film critics seems to be that there has never been (out of at least five attempts, the first by Jean Renoir in 1933) a worthy cinematic adaptation of Flaubert's classic novel. Whatever the truth of that contention overall, this particular version (the first directed by a woman), while not perfect, is certainly not deserving of the critical drubbing it got at the time of its release. Watching it, one can't help but wonder whether the establishment response was a reaction to its flouting of political correctness; whereas the novel is generally interpreted as an indictment of its period's repression of women, this film presents an unlikable, unsympathetic protagonist who pretty much does what she wants and arguably deserves most, if not all, of the grief she receives as a result.
At any rate, the screenplay and performances here are certainly engaging, and there's no denying that the film is visually gorgeous. The direction is subtle to the point of invisibility, which, for a film like this, is the way it ought to be. The most jarring aspect of the production, however, is one that few critics seem to have noted: Barthes' choice to allow her actors to maintain the accents of their real-life homelands. Whatever mood or tone the director was going for, it doesn't work. Mia Wasikowska, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, and Ezra Miller all give strong performances, and there's little doubt that each of them could have pulled off a French accent, yet their various enunciations do serious damage to an otherwise near-perfect adaptation of a classic novel.
Made in late 2013 and released in various places throughout 2014, Madame Bovary was picked up by Millennium Entertainment in September of last year, but when that company fell apart, the film disappeared from public view, a fate it didn't deserve. Thankfully, Alchemy has remedied that situation by giving the film a DVD and Blu-ray release in North America. Too bad critics have thrashed it so mercilessly. It deserves a fair-minded reappraisal.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Alchemy has released Madame Bovary in 1080p high definition with an MPEG-4 AVC encode. A 2.39:1 aspect ratio has been utilized approximating the film's original theatrical release. The film runs just shy of two hours, and given the lack of extras, a 25GB disc seems appropriate. The image certainly isn't damaged by compression; it's heavily detailed, which is a major plus given the European locales in which it was filmed and the rich sets and costumes. Period detail is complemented by the sharpness of the image, which never looks soft; and grain is just prevalent enough to accentuate the filmic look. Colors are resplendent, and black and gray levels are well modulated. In short, there is absolutely nothing to complain about in the visual aspect of the release.
The soundtrack is presented in lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 as well as in 2.0. There's no sweeping emotional track here to manipulate viewers; rather, the director has opted for a low-key score that places emphasis on dialogue and sound effects. The effects never interfere with the dialogue, which is appropriately placed between the various speakers, and said discourse is clear and easy to understand. If you have issues with your aural sense, however, English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired have been included. (There are also Spanish subtitles, though the release lacks French subtitles, a strange omission given that there must be a French-Canadian audience for the film.)
Unfortunately, there are no extras other than a trailer for the film, which runs two minutes and thirty-one seconds. A making-of featurette would have been welcome, as would an audio commentary from the director.
Alchemy has seen fit to include promotional trailers for other of its releases, including Fading Gigolo (2013), Elsa and Fred (2014), Welcome to Me (2014), and Accidental Love (2015). These automatically play when the disc is inserted in the player.
The Final Word:
Unfairly maligned by critics, Madame Bovary misses the mark of perfection only because its director had her actors speak in their natural accents rather than brave French ones. Too bad, as the performances are uniformly excellent, Barthes' direction beautifully quiet and sensual, and the script a masterful summation of a lengthy work of classic literature. Alchemy has given the film the kind of look it deserves, rich and fluid. Madame Bovary is a throwback to the '90s, when period romances centered on tragic women were plentiful. Maybe now that it's finally been released on home video, it will find an audience and receive the accolades it deserves.
Christopher Workman is a freelance writer, film critic, and co-author (with Troy Howarth) of the Tome of Terror horror film review series. Volume 2 of that series, which covers the 1930s, is currently available from Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., with Volume 1, covering the 1920s, due out later this year.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
