August
19
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GEMMA BOVERY (15)
GEMMA BOVERY (15)
Run time: 99mins
Director: Anne Fontaine
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Fabrice Luchini, Jason Flemyng, Isabelle Candelier, Niels Schneider
Synopsis: A modern-day re-working of Flaubert’s 19th century novel, Madame Bovary. Having moved to a rustic farm with her older husband, Gemma soon tires of their ‘simpler’ life and finds distraction in a torrid affair with a handsome young aristocrat. Meanwhile, Martin, a local baker and lover of literature, becomes besotted with Gemma, but also fears she may suffer the same fate as the heroine in his favourite novel.
URL: www.sodapictures.com
From distinguished director, Anne Fontaine (Perfect Mothers (2013) , Coco Before Chanel (2009), The Girl from Monaco (2008)] this witty tale with a decidedly dark underbelly finds the wonderful Fabrice Luchini [(In the House (2012), The Women on the 6th Floor (2010), Potiche (2010)] as Martin, a former Parisian publisher who has relocated to a small village in Normandy to settle with his family as an artisan baker. However when his new British neighbours Gemma and Martin Bovery (Gemma Arterton and Jason Flemyng) move in he becomes obsessively convinced that they will suffer the same fate the characters in Gustave Flaubert’s famous novel.
As life appears to imitate art this dark comedy succeeds in being clever, witty and charming with added bite. Fabrice Luchini as usual is mesmerising as he draws us in to the unfolding drama and is backed by excellent ensemble playing especially from the radiant Gemma Arterton.
To anyone familiar with Flaubert’s masterpiece the skeleton story line will have few surprises, but this brisk and well directed film will prove an intriguing journey for all, through French countryside beautifully shot by cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne.
Images courtesy of Soda Pictures
