''Madame Bovary'' is a 2014

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

directed by

Sophie Barthes Sophie Barthes (born 1974) is a French-American film director and screenwriter best known for her 2009 film ''Cold Souls''. Early life Barthes was born in France and was raised in South America and the Middle East. She moved to New York in 2001 t ...

, based on the 1856 novel of the same name by French author

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

. The film stars

Mia Wasikowska Mia Wasikowska ( ; born 25 October 1989) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama '' All Saints'' in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in '' Suburban Mayhem'' (2006). She first became known t ...

Rhys Ifans Rhys Ifans (; born Rhys Owain Evans; 22 July 1967) is a Welsh actor and musician. He was the frontman of Welsh rock music bands the Peth and Super Furry Animals. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in ''Notting Hill'' (1999), ''Kevin & ...

Ezra Miller Ezra Matthew Miller (born September 30, 1992) is an American actor. Their feature film debut was in ''Afterschool'' (2008), which they followed by starring in the drama ''We Need to Talk About Kevin (film), We Need to Talk About Kevin'' (2011) ...

Logan Marshall-Green Logan Marshall-Green (born November 1, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in the television series ''24 (TV series), 24'', ''The O.C.'', ''Traveler (2007 TV series), Traveler'', ''Dark Blue (TV series), Dark Blue' ...

Henry Lloyd-Hughes Henry Lloyd-Hughes (born 11 August 1985) is an English actor. He is known for his roles in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005), ''Unrelated'' (2007), ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), '' Miliband of Brothers'' (2010), '' Weekender' ...

Laura Carmichael Laura Elizabeth Carmichael (born 16 July 1986) is an English film and television actress, most widely known for her performance as Lady Edith Crawley in the ITV (UK) and PBS (US) television period drama series'' Downton Abbey''. Her other wo ...

Olivier Gourmet Olivier Gourmet (born 22 July 1963) is a Belgian actor. Gourmet was born in Namur. He won the Best Actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his role in '' Le Fils'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. He also appeared in ''La Promesse'' ...

, and

Paul Giamatti Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor and film producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in '' Private Parts'' as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, leading to supporting roles in ''Saving Private R ...

Plot

Emma, a young woman who is not yet 18 years old, packs up her belongings and prepares to leave the convent to marry the man her farmer father has arranged as her husband: country doctor Charles Bovary. However, she becomes bored and miserable in the small, provincial town of Yonville. She spends most of her time alone, reading or wandering in the garden while Charles tends to patients. Even when he is home, Emma feels bored or neglected by Charles. Emma longs for more — excitement, passion, status, and love. She shows restraint at first, when smitten law clerk Leon Dupuis skittishly professes his affections for her. However, she is intrigued by the dashing Marquis, who makes more overt advances. Their affair emboldens her as she believes it gives her a glimpse of the good life. She spends money she does not have on lavish dresses and decorations from the obsequious dry-goods dealer Monsieur Lheureux, who is all too happy to continue extending her credit.

Cast

as Emma Bovary *

as Charles Bovary *

as Leon Dupuis, one of Emma's lovers *

as Monsieur Homais, the local pharmacist *

as Monsieur Lheureux *

as the Marquis or Rodolphe Boulanger in the novel *

as Monsieur Rouault *

as Henriette

Production

In March 2012, it was reported that Mia Wasikowska had been cast in a film to be directed by Sophie Barthes. Ezra Miller joined the cast in May and Rhys Ifans in October 2012. Laura Carmichael, Olivier Gourmet, and Logan Marshall-Green were linked to the project in September 2013. Filming began on 30 September 2013 in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

Joe Neurauter Joe Neurauter (born 1977) is an Austrian-born independent film producer best known for his work on ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006) and ''The Wackness'' (2008) with Keith Calder and Felipe Marino. Early and personal life Neurauter wa ...

and

Felipe Marino Felipe Marino (born 1978) is an American independent film producer best known for his work on ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006) and ''The Wackness'' (2008) with Keith Calder and Joe Neurauter. Career Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ...

of Occupant Entertainment produced the film in association with director

' production company Aden Films and Jaime Mateus-Tique from Aleph Motion Pictures.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

secured all German-speaking rights to the film from A Company Filmed Entertainment in April 2014. On September 9, 2014, one day before its

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, th ...

debut,

Millennium Entertainment Alchemy (formerly Millennium Entertainment) was an American independent global film distributor based in Los Angeles, California. The company acquired and distributed feature films, television series and specialty programming. History Millennium ...

acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film.

Reception

''Madame Bovary'' received mixed reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a 43% score based on 68 reviews, with an average rating of 5.68/10. The film's consensus reads: "Over the years, Flaubert's ''Madame Bovary'' has proven an exceedingly difficult novel to film - and this version adds another disappointing entry to the list." The film holds a score of 52 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating 'mixed or average reviews'.

References

External links

* * Madame Bovary plot a
Rogerebert
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madame Bovary (2014 film) 2014 films 2010s historical drama films 2010s historical romance films 2014 romantic drama films American historical drama films American historical romance films American romantic drama films Belgian historical drama films Belgian romantic drama films English-language Belgian films English-language German films Films about infidelity Films based on Madame Bovary Films set in the 19th century Films shot in France German historical drama films German historical romance films German romantic drama films Films set in France 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s German films