Movie Review - Gemma Bovery

Gemma Bovery **½ (out of 5) (R) I’m not sure of the extent to which this subtitled French dramedy is actually tepid, or just over my head, since my grounding in the underlying literature is wanting for this present-day riff on Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, which was considered quite racy in 1856. In this film, an attractive English couple moves to a French village, across the street from a married baker Fabrice Luchini), who is obsessed with the novels of that era. He can’t believe how much his new neighbor’s wife mirrors the lascivious lady of his favorite tale - starting with her name - Gemma Bovery - which is only two letters off. The woman (Gemma Arterton, but let’s not get too carried away with these overlaps) is actually clueless about that connection, even as her life and personality begin to mimic the original plot - at least as it seems to her new secret admirer.

What follows are teasing bits of romantic intrigue, personal problems, cultural adjustments and a surprise or two. The baker timidly yearns for something exciting as people come and go in a swirl of activity surrounding this new local attraction, who may not be all that interested in, or even aware of, the attention. Presumably, fans of the novel will find more gems in the script than the rest of us, as knowledge of Hamlet boosted appreciation of the silly-to-satiric Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead play and film.

Arterton’s performance, as she virtually floats a few feet off the ground throughout her exploration of these new environs, is superb. Same for Luchini’s baker, whose artistic soul chafes at the constraints of its mundane trappings. Man does not live by bread alone, even when he’s the one who makes it. (7/10/15)