Director: Sophie Barthes

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Ezra Miller, Paul Giamatti, Laura Carmichael

Running time: 118 minutes

Synopsis: The beautiful wife of a small-town doctor engages in extra marital affairs in an attempt to advance her social status.

Based on the Gustave Flaubert novel, MADAME BOVARY is not exactly a new story but in the hands of director Sophie Barthes and with Mia Wasikowska in the titular role it certainly is a film that will appeal to new audiences.

In this adaptation, Emma Bovary (Wasikowska) goes from being a young woman, waiting for her life to start, to one so desperate for excitement she doesn’t stop to think of the consequences as she starts a series of passionate affairs. It’s a transition captured beautifully and with great maturity by Wasikowska, an actress who can capture both the naivety and self-destructive nature of the character.

Valérie Ranchoux, Mia Wasikowska and Sophie Barthes

Director Sophie Barthes shows great understanding of every aspect of the film and her directorial vision looks well beyond the cast and script. The sumptuous costumes, courtesy of Valérie Ranchoux, and beautiful natural backdrop to the film mean that watching it unfold is like stepping through the screen and into a painting. Each element is a character within its own right.

At times it feels like Barthes has only scratched the surface of what this film could have been, that she could easily have delved even deeper and come up with an epic feature that lasted much longer than its 118 minutes. Yet, what she has made is no worse for it. The decision has been made to drop certain elements of Bovary’s tale (there is no child for one) and shift the focus a little: a daring choice but one that works well.

Though Barthes opts for some rather shaky camera work on occasion, which some may find uncomfortable, it is used to reflect the fragile state of our unlikely heroine. When the film is slow, it is because you need to appreciate her intense level of boredom. When it is shaky, it is to show how unsteady she is. The film itself is a stunning reflection of everything Emma Bovary is.

The supporting cast – including a quietly powerful performance from Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Emma’s decent and unassuming husband Charles – are all excellent, if a little underused, but the film really belongs to Wasikowska. At the post-film Q&A, she reflected that it’s always more fun to play a character who’s angry and rude and self-destructive – something evident in her captivating performance.

MADAME BOVARY is a thing of beauty, majestic and enchanting and reminiscent of the great tragic romances.

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