Madame Bovary

1949

Drama / Romance

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 70% · 4 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 70% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 3260 3.3K

lover trial adulteress

Plot summary

A frivolous country girl married to a naïve small-town doctor goes down the path of destruction when she grows tired of her limited social status.

Director

Vincente Minnelli Photo
Vincente Minnelli

Top cast

Gene Lockhart Photo
Gene Lockhart as J. Homais
Gladys Cooper Photo
Gladys Cooper as Mme. Dupuis
John Abbott Photo
John Abbott as Mayor Tuvache
Ellen Corby Photo
Ellen Corby as Félicité
720p.BluRay
1.03 GB
988*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   vi  
23.976 fps
1 hr 54 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by tomsview 8 / 10

Luminous star

Jennifer Jones was a star I knew well from visits to the cinema with my family during the 1950's: "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit", "The Barretts of Whimpole Street", "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and "A Farewell to Arms".I cut in on her at a certain stage in her career. She was a bit older than my mum, and although I liked her she didn't have the effect on a prepubescent lad that Yvette Mimieux or Tuesday Weld were having.It wasn't until later, when we got television, that I saw the movies she made earlier in her career; "Song of Bernadette, "Duel in the Sun", "Portrait of Jennie", "Carrie" and this one: Vincente Minnelli's "Madame Bovary". What an absolute stunner she was.Emma Bovary (Jennifer Jones) is the beautiful daughter of a poor French family, but she has an overactive imagination fostered by romantic novels.She marries a country doctor Charles Bovary (Van Heflin) who she doesn't really love hoping to advance her standing in society and pursue her romantic dreams. However she soon outspends her husband's capacity to earn. In an era before credit cards, she maxes-out on credit notes.Emma attracts men like moths to a flame, and cheats on her husband who still loves her despite everything. There are tears before the final fade out.The film is bookended with the trial of Gustave Flaubert who wrote the original novel. Apparently the story so outraged the French hierarchy that they took old Gustave to court. He got off and of course the book became a bestseller.The filmmakers used the trial to allow Gustave (James Mason) to narrate the story - quoting passages of Flaubert's prose. Although narration can be a lazy device in film, in this case, Mason's mellifluous voice puts us in the picture quickly. More importantly, Emma is seen sympathetically despite being hopelessly self-focused.Two actors added the final touch of class to the 1949 version. Van Heflin is such a nice guy here that we are waiting for someone to smack Emma to her senses. Louis Jordan gives another variation on that smooth roué he played in "Letter to an Unknown Woman" - a not dissimilar drama.Composer Miklos Rozsa surpassed himself with the score. With its beautiful main theme for Emma and flowing melodies it sweeps you along.A 2014 version did away with narration. It's more low-key, but quite good with a totally different vibe to the Minnelli version. It was filmed in France and is more explicit with a fair bit of nudity. Jennifer Jones was fortunate that her movie career was in an era where she didn't have to worry about getting in shape for that kind of thing.
Reviewed by jpdoherty 7 / 10

Memorable MGM Melodrama.

MADAME BOVARY is something of an underrated Hollywood classic! Produced by Pandro S. Berman for MGM in 1949 it was one of the last movies of Hollywood's Golden Age! Directed with a positive flair by the ubiquitous Vincente Minnelli it was stylishly written for the screen by Robert Ardrey from the "outragious" novel by Gustav Flaubert and crisply photographed in gorgeous black & white by Robert Planck.Jennifer Jones gives a superb performance as Emma Bovary the beautiful young vivacious woman in 19th century France who pursues her insatiable appetite for love and romance with reckless abandon resulting in her total moral decay, the neglect and alienation of her husband and young child and her eventual suicide. The actress applied herself assiduously to the role, almost eclipsing her Acadamy Award winning portrayal in "Song Of Bernadette" six years earlier. Excellent also is Van Heflin as her long suffering mild mannered doctor husband and Louis Jordan as Rudolphe - one of her lovers. Also making a striking appearance at the start of the picture is James Mason in an effective cameo as the novelist Flaubert himself who is in court on a charge of corrupting public morals with the publication of his "shameful" novel "Madame Bovary". Then from the dock Flaubert (Mason) begins to narrate the story of his infamous heroine as the film unfolds.Underlining this heated melodrama is the wonderful music of Miklos Rozsa. This was the great composer's first score for MGM. This would be the beginning of Rozsa's most lavish and most prestigious productive period! Here at MGM he would create, among others, such outstanding works as "Quo Vadis", "Ivanhoe", "Plymouth Adventure", "All The Brothers Were Valiant", "Valley Of The Kings", "Knights Of The Round Table", "Green Fire" and culminating in 1959 with his masterpiece "Ben Hur". His score for "Madame Bovary" abounds with exquisite character themes such as those for the lovers Rudolphe (Jordan) and Leon (Christopher Kent). But his most appealing theme is reserved for the husband Dr. Bovary (Heflin) which has an engaging lyrical wistfulness to it. And the theme for the main protagonist - first heard in the Main Title - is troubled and turgid, perfectly reflecting the character of Emma Bovary. Of course the highlight and showpiece of the score is the swirling and dizzying waltz he composed for the elaborate ballroom sequence - the film's most memorable scene!The DVD transfer is exceptional with well defined Monochrome images. But the extras aren't up to very much! There is a good trailer but there is no commentary and quite dispensable is a Droopy cartoon and a tired Pete Smith Specialty. However a movie like this that is well written, well played and beautifully shot and scored is well worth having in any collection!
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