Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Spikeopath Madame Bovary is directed by Vincente Minnelli and adapted to screenplay by Robert Ardrey from the Gustave Flaubert novel. It stars Jennifer Jones, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin, Gene Lockhart and James Mason. Music is by Miklós Rózsa and cinematography by Robert H. Planck.It's most interesting now watching Minnelli's picture and being able to place it in the time it was made. Also of major interest is reading up on what the critics of the time had to say about it. This version is an undoubted lesson in the technical crafts of film making, the visuals, the sound, art design, costuming and a literary pumped screenplay that allows the cast to play it classical. It's also black hearted, perfectly in keeping with the gathering storm of the era that was film noir.Here is the monster.Some of the complaints about the film, to me anyway, just don't add up. Why do we need to care about anyone in this story? It's a dark tale of illicit passions, greed, betrayals, bad parenting and etc. Is this frowned upon in some circles because of love for the classic novel? Or because there's some esteem held for other versions? The criticism of Jones is also very suspect given it's a classic femme fatale performance, Emma is cold and driven and shallow to others feelings, Jones works it perfectly.As Rózsa's beautiful lush and poignant musical arrangements drift and hover over the various story instalments, Minnelli brings the film making guile. His camera work is sublime, like a ghost moving about the characters for the more vibrant scenes, tracking and roving, dizzyingly beautiful. At others it's close and personal, imbuing Emma's claustrophobia, with the black and white contrasts superbly photographed by Planck.So it doesn't capture the essence of Flaubert's intent, then? Emma Bovary a figure of hate instead of sympathy, the lack of a caustic aside on a society of double standards? So what! Outstanding film making is just that, especially when it can tune into a style of film making prevalent at its birth. Madame Bovary - maybe the most film noir movie not actually considered a film noir. Brilliant. 9/10

kekseksa I have seen all but one of the cinema films of Flaubert's novel (the missing one is the German version with Pola Negri)although it is a very long time since I saw the 1933 Renoir version.Pleasure though it always is, to watch Jennifer Jones in anything, this is not really her part.The major problems with the 1949 version are 1) the complete lack of any atmosphere of a French town, although this is rather crucial to the plot since it is precisely that rather stifling, hypocritical atmosphere that drives the entire tragedy. 2) the poor and very abbreviated screenplay which is in fact largely based on the 1947 Spanish version. This is. for instance, where he idea of framing it with Flaubert's trial comes from - not in my view a happy idea because it detracts from the necessary illusion in a way that occasional narration - as in the Chabrol version - does not. Another serious departures from the novel is the ballroom scene (wonderfully filmed but it is NOT - and importantly NOT - the occasion of her becoming involved with Boulanger but - and importantly BUT - an earlier stage in her downfall. This change also comes from the earlier Spanish film. Then again, the most painful episode in the book - absolutely central again to the fall of Emma and something that necessarily lingers throughout the rest of the novel since the boy lives on as an amputee - is the failed operation on the boy with the club-foot which never takes place in this version and is rather glided over in the 1947 version (which also omits Emma's child altogether. I cannot recall this episode in the Renoir but it very painfully brought home in the Chabrol version. Here Van Heflin's Bovary does what the character should have done - entirely changing the profile of the character - not what he actually did, which was to carry out the operation and make a hash of it. Whatever else he is, Bovary should not be simply a noble long-suffering character....or we end up effectively with Lust in the Dust (sorry, Duel in the Sun) with Van Heflin for Joseph Cotten and minus Gregory Peck.The 1933 and 1991 versions both excel in different ways in providing the French atmosphere in the latter in part at least due to the superb performance of Jean Yanne as the mayor-pharmacist, which also prevents the film from being over-dependent on the actress playing Emma on whom almost the entire onus of the film falls in Minelli's version, the other players being no more than adequate. Huppert's Emma and Jean-François Balmer's Bovary (another superb performance) are unmistakeably French,as one might expect while Jones and Van Heflin both come over altogether too much like something out of a western.One aspect caught beautifully in Chabrol's version but inevitably difficulty for any black-and-white version to manage is the gradual transformation of Emma as a result of her extravagant purchases. This too, however, is rather crucial to the plot.In truth, I do not think that this is a work that Hollywood has been or will ever be capable of adapting for the screen because it is simply, in cultural terms, far too distant from it. I should like to re-see the Renoir version, my impression being that it the one that best shows Emma's suffocation at the life she leads (the 1991 version has to move so briskly along to get everything in that her life appears altogether too dashing. An ideal version, I suspect, should be in two parts, quite common in French films of a certain period (Les Misérables for instance) but not, alas, when either of the versions of Madame Bovary were made. A two-part version could include the early parts of the novel (the childhood and early manhood of Bovary) which none of the existing versions attempt but which provide another perspective in the novel itself.

Film_critic_Lalit_Rao It is an undeniable fact that French writer Gustave Flaubert's classic "Madame Bovary" is very much a French work of art.This is the reason why acclaimed French directors Jean Renoir and Claude Chabrol have filmed their own versions of this classic tale which not only focuses on adultery but also gives a very vivid and accurate description of peasant life during eighteenth century France.However, American director Vincente Minelli's version is very much different from these Gallic versions as it is quite down to earth with an elusive American touch to it.This is something which makes it very much universal in its appeal and reach.It is really pure joy to see acclaimed American actors Ms. Jennifer Jones and Mr.Van Heflin playing their main roles as Emma Bovary and Charles Bovary.However,James Mason can be touted as this film's absolute real star for his marvelous performance as French writer Gustave Flaubert.It is he who carries the film on his shoulders by making viewers empathize with Emma Bovary's hapless plight.He is one of the primary keys to suggest that his work "Madame Bovary" is a work of our modern times to know how one should view male/female relationships especially relationships which are the cornerstone of all married people's relationships.

Jem Odewahn I am surprised and a little disappointed that this film is overlooked when discussing the best films of director Vincente Minnelli. Even he seemed to disregard it--he gave it very little time in any interview he gave. Yet when watching "Madame Bovary", the film is stunningly, and it seems, lovingly, directed by Metro's master. Every scene is beautifully crafted, and the highlight of course is the ballroom sequence, which seems to be the only part of the film ever thought highly of. All the way through the camera movement, design, pacing, the understanding of the complexities of Emma Bovary's situation are perfect. Even without the performances of the cast all this would make it very, very admirable. Add to that Jennifer Jones' excellent performance in the tile role, alternately child-like and passionate, giddy and neurotic, and you have a great film. Jourdan is also fine as Emma's dream lover, and the criticisms of Heflin's performance as stiff and boring are unjust. He is very subtle, and plays it well. I never thought I would say this, because I'm crazy about the guy, but Mason's intro and concluding trial scenes as author Gustave Flaubert just don't gel with the rest of the film. Mason gives his usual intelligence and consideration to the role, but somehow his voice-over doesn't work? I still liked the Flaubert scenes though, incorporating the author. Minnelli's film stands tall to Flaubert's novel, and it's a wonderful adaptation.