‘Gemma Bovery‘, Anne Fontaine‘s 2014 film enchanted me. What could be the cause? The presence in the male lead role of Fabrice Luchini, one of my favorite French actors and possessor of the most perfect diction of anyone who spoke or speaks French on screen? The sex appeal of the English actress Gemma Arterton, under whose spell some of the men in the film fall but, I think, many of the viewers as well? The clever screenplay, which glosses over Gustave Flaubert’s famous novel in a story that combines fascination with literature with questions about the ages of love and the dangerous flirtation between fantasy and reality? Each of these would be reason enough, the combination of them I could not resist.
Martin Joubert, who also takes on the role of off-screen storyteller, tried his luck in Paris as a book publisher, but without success, so he returned to Normandy to practice the noble profession of baker, taking over the inheritance of his father’s shop. However, the passion for literature remains in his heart and ‘Madame Bovary’ is one of his favorite books. When an English couple from London moves in next door, when their names are Gemma and Charlie Bovery, and when the woman is of fascinating beauty and seems as bored and looking for romantic escapes as the heroine of Flaubert’s book, Martin associates reality with fantasy in literature. Love for the much younger woman, of course, has no chance and can only be expressed, perhaps, through the erotic kneading of dough in the preparation of delicious loaves. Or maybe Martin can somehow influence the fate of the young woman? Because in the book, Madame Bovary ends tragically. The expression ‘life imitates literature’ takes on a new and unexpected meaning in this film.
Fabrice Luchini is more formidable than ever, if such a thing is possible. As much as I dislike the use of off-screen voiceover, I’m ready to accept it whenever the reader is Luchini. It seems that I have already seen Gemma Arterton in a few films, including one in the James Bond series, but nowhere does she get the opportunity to play such a role, in which she radiates beauty and vulnerability. The script is sensitive and intelligently written and two successive endings reserve surprises of the good kind. The feminist theme is presented discreetly. The men in this story hurt Gemma, perhaps unintentionally, perhaps out of love. The camera enjoys the Normandy summer light and heat. For those who have not seen ‘Gemma Bovery‘, I recommend the experience without hesitation.