Light approach to Flaubert’s masterpiece plays the humour card with effective results
Points: 7
Adapted from Posy Simmond’s graphic novel, Gemma Bovery, the new release directed by Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Cha-nel, Adore) and coscripted with Pascal Bonitzer, takes a modern day approach to Gustave Flaubert’s masterpiece, yet not to faithfully retell it but to render it in a more lightweight manner, without much of the original existential malaise. Believe it or not, it actually works on its own terms.
Set in the Gallic countryside, Gemma Bovery first focuses on Martin Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) a middle-aged man who moves back to his hometown in Normandy to take over the family bakery. He’s married to Valérie (Isabelle Candelier), a whining, discontented woman, and he has a son, Julien (Kacey Mottet Klein), an ordinary teen with no interest in school whatsoever. Life in the village is uneventful and boring, and so Martin feels life is passing him by.
That is until a recently married couple moves into the cosy country house across the street. He is Charlie Bovery (Jason Flemyng), a British expat, and she is Gemma (Gemma Arterton), his sexy, stunning young wife. Guess who’s going to be smitten by her arresting charms?
More to the point, not only will the baker fall for Gemma, but he’ll also do everything in his power to have her for himself — even if that involves foul play. After all, he’s fixated on Flaubert’s novel in the first place, so it should come as no surprise that he sees it unfolding in real life right in front of his eyes. Whether that’s actually true remains to be seen.
Gemma Bovery is narrated from Joubert’s point of view, which makes perfect sense, as this loose adaptation is more about the obsessed man than his elusive object of desire.
At times, Joubert may remind viewers of Monsieur Hire, the title character played by Michel Blanc in Patrice Leconte’s alluring film, a man who constantly watches and spies on a woman he’s fallen for. In both cases, the women partly function as excuses for the development of the male characters. In Gemma Bovery, Arterton’s main responsibility is to be as gorgeous as possible throughout. Considering the actress’s good looks, that’s an easy task.
Another change from Flaubert’s novel is that though Gemma does have a series of lovers, there are a few unforeseen twists concerning them, and, even more importantly, there’s also room for laughs in Fontaine’s film — which, for the most part, work fine too. Not that this is a comedy of manners, but rather one that subtly resorts to humour, sometimes in dramatic circumstances.
As the film revolves around Martin, Luchini’s performance is of extreme importance, and it’s great to see that this seasoned actor embodies desire, anguish, and occasional bliss in a believably restrained way. His sentiments show in his gaze and his sometimes trembling voice, but also in his shy body language almost always afraid to do the wrong thing.
The cinematography is particularly well achieved to create moods as well as a sense of sensuality, and it depicts the French countryside with eye-catching shades that are never too saturated or imposing. And while Gemma Bovery is no masterpiece, it’ also true that is an unpretentious film, very clear about its intentions, which are accomplished for the most part.
Production notes
Gemma Bovery (France, 2014) Directed by Anne Fontaine. Written by Pascal Bonitzer and Anne Fontaine, based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds. With Fabrice Luchini, Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng, Isabelle Candelier, Niels Schneider, Mel Raido, Elsa Zylberstein. Cinematography: Christophe Beaucarne. Editing by Annette Dutertre. Running time: 99 minutes.
@pablsuarez
