Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is a 1949 American romantic drama, a film adaptation of the classic 1857 novel of the same name by Gustave Flaubert. It stars Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin (billed as Christopher Kent), Gene Lockhart, Frank Allenby and Gladys Cooper.
Plot
In an 1850s Paris courtroom, author Gustave Flaubert attempts to prevent the banning of his novel Madame Bovary. His accusers have described the book's title character as shocking and immoral. Flaubert counters with a narration of Bovary's story from his own realist perspective. Thus, we are introduced to 20-year-old Emma, a lonely woman who fantasizes a perfect life for herself. She falls in love with Dr. Charles Bovary. The two are married and move into a small house in Normandy. Emma re-decorates it lavishly, incurring much debt. Bemoaning her lack of social status, Emma tells Charles she wants a baby boy, someone not confined in accordance with Second French Empire’s repressive cultural norms. Instead, Emma gives birth to a girl, Berthe. She soon tires of her role as mother and leaves Berthe's upbringing to her nanny. Unhappy with her life, Emma embarks on a relationship with Leon Dupuis, but his mother induces him to move to Paris and enroll in law school.
More details
| author | Robert Ardrey |
|---|---|
| director | Vincente Minnelli |
| editor | Ferris Webster |
| genre | drama |
| keywords | baby boy confine country doctor end gustave flaubert law school lonely woman madame bovary married perfect life second french empire shock social status upbringing |
| musicBy | Miklós Rózsa |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White |
| producer | Pandro S. Berman |
| publisher | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| theme | romantic drama |