Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 9, 2015

2014's Madame Bovary is the latest adaptation -- of many, film and otherwise -- of French Novelist Gustave Flaubert's critically praised 1850s work of the same name that's appeared on many short lists of great novels of its, or any, time. This film adaptation, sadly, is a passably clunky, often lifeless interpretation, reproducing, but doing nothing more with, the core story of a young lady in search of a more pleasurable outward existence who finds that the more she indulges, the more she crumbles, both outwardly and inwardly. The film, directed by French Filmmaker Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls), plays as neither cautionary tale nor intimate examination of the character's outermost and innermost needs and the benefits and dangers of her avenues of escape, bodily and financially alike. Rather, it's a dreary, straightforward telling of a depressed life with, emotionally, little to show for it. The film is visually scrumptious to be sure and generally well performed, but the narrative feels empty, devoid of the innermost intimacy its lead character begs and pleads for the filmmaker to release with every turn, tryst, and transaction.

Scandalous.

Emma Bovary (Mia Wasikowska) is married to a country doctor named Charles (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). He's a by-the-book sort who puts his life and career ahead of his relationship with his wife. He's more married to his profession than he is to her. They passionlessly make love, and her end is particularly unfulfilling. He treats her more as a necessary accessory, an expected part of life, leaving her yearning for more than a simple existence. Yet he's fully content in the relationship, happy with the accepted simplicity of their daily lives. She's always dreamed of life in the city, traversing the streets in horse-drawn carriage, surrounded by wealth and privilege and excitement. She gradually seeks solace in the arms of other men, chiefly the well-to-do Marquis (Logan Marshall-Green) and a dashing young man named Leon Dupuis (Ezra Miller) with connections to the city of her dreams, Rouen. Further, she lavishes herself with the finest surroundings possible, slowly accumulating debt the family cannot repay and gradually inflaming their creditor, Monsieur Lheureux (Rhys Ifans).

Certainly, the core story deals in some enormously fascinating themes. Sex and spending are outlets for Emma Bovary, not dark-hearted desires or conquests meant for ruin, though certainly her indiscretions seem all but destined to come back around in time and prove more devastating than the ordinary life she otherwise lives. Through those outlets, Bovary efforts to counter her loneliness, isolation, and disillusionment with her place in life and what those around her can provide. She finds herself in a time and place and surround by people who suffocate her, not literally, of course, but in a deeply figurative manner that drives her to stray from accepted behavior and seek solace where neither polite society nor financial constraints allow. Her life's ambition becomes her ambition, meaning that everything she does aims only to fulfill her crudest desires with little, to no, idea as to the consequences of her actions, seeking short-time gain at the expense of her long-term life, to which she seems either blinded or convinced that it otherwise cannot exist, or both. Her field of view narrows as she feels her world close in around her, seeming to cut off her options and forcing her to seek comfort where it's but a fleeting satisfaction, not a permanent solution. Beyond the sexual trysts and steamy love affairs, there's a deep, fascinating psychology at play, a wonderfully complex character riddled with emotional turmoil that's ripe for exploration. Unfortunately, the film doesn't satisfy that end of the journey to any real meaningful extent.

Instead, Madame Bovary feels missing its center, projecting a strongly crafted film that's mostly a tease of the more deeply intriguing bits at work. Characters are relegated to flat, largely lifeless bodies that carry out story details but don't allow for much exploration beyond the surface. Certainly, the film boasts a detailed, exacting exterior. The picture exudes a very tangible sense of period life about it, though not to any mind-boggling extent that excels beyond others set in similar timeframes. Sophie Barthes shoots with an understated elegance that accentuates the world and teases the darker themes at play, but the film sadly succumbs to the relative ease of exploring only what's easiest to find rather than reaching into the very depths of Bovary's soul to unearth more than the simplest of causes and effects that drive her actions. Still, the movie is a gorgeous testament to the cinematic grandeur the time and setting so often yield, and the actors, generally, fall into part not only through the transformative magic of precisely designed sets and rightly fitted period garments but also through a greater understanding of who they play and what the story wants to say about how they live and why. Unfortunately, "wants" is the key word there; most every one of them struggle to bring the more intimate details to life. They're stifled by a film that, even at two hours in length, feels chopped and absent the greater driving forces of the more finely tuned narrative that the source provides and the film demands.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Madame Bovary arrives on Blu-ray with a crisp, lush, and attractive 1080p transfer. The image is firmly detailed and often effortlessly so, presenting with a fine grain structure and a natural sense of vitality and crispness to everything from intimate facial details to medium-distant terrain. Period clothes are handsomely complex when seen in the foreground, and the same can be said of natural foliage, notably fallen leaves. Colors are healthy and vibrant, with period garb -- including bright orange and red outfits -- standing nicely apart and lifelike. Some flatter natural greens and other earth-flavored hues appear balanced and true. Flesh tones push mildly rosy at times, and blacks are almost always washed out, taking on a demonstrably pale appearance. Otherwise, the transfer proves most enjoyable.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Madame Bovary features an all-around satisfactory Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music and minor effects are the key elements here, beyond dialogue, of course, which is confidently balanced in the front-center speaker and plays with unflinching definition throughout. Musical clarity impresses; light, basic notes rule the film. Fine front-end spacing dominates, leaving the surrounds to carry a smaller, but nevertheless key, environmental support structure. The track never spits out anything too aggressive, but light thunder, blowing winds, rustling leaves, chirping birds, distant insects, and other outdoor ambient effects are nicely scattered around the listening area. A nice bit of heavy reverberation accompanies several syllables in a church setting early in the movie. This is a fairly basic track but Alchemy's lossless presentation shows a firm command of its limited resources.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Only 480i trailers for Madame Bovary, Fading Gigolo, Elsa & Fred, Welcome to Me, and Accidental Love are included.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Madame Bovary seems achingly on the edge of greatness, but this latest film adaptation of the classic novel feels stymied by several factors, chiefly a choppy flow and an empty center. It never quite reaches beyond the surface to more deeply examine the title character's disillusionments and never quite finds a reason for the audience to fully invest in her plight. Even at two hours, it seems hamstrung by a lack of fully filling exposition and depth. It is gorgeously photographed and beautifully costumed, but its pluses ultimately run little more than skin-deep. Alchemy's featureless Blu-ray does offer fine video and audio. Rent it.