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Germany, Belgium, United States · 2015
Rated R · 1h 58m
Director Sophie Barthes
Starring Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Ezra Miller, Logan Marshall-Green
Genre Drama
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In this adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's classic 19th-century novel, Emma Bovary lives unhappily in rural France, unsatisfied with her dull marriage to a doctor named Charles. To escape her miserable life, Emma begins affairs with more exciting men while also using credit to live beyond her financial means.
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
Lead Mia Wasikowska looks convincingly miserable in the role of a young wife who's driven to seek her pleasures outside the marital bed, but whatever complexities roil in the character's heart and head are nowhere to be found on her face.
The Guardian by Catherine Shoard
The presence of Sophie Barthes behind the camera does not amplify sympathy for our heroine. Rather, the opposite: if anything Barthes seems less in her allure, less tolerant of her tiffs, full-throttle with the vanity and the selfishness.
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
Sophie Barthes neglects to thoroughly conceive of Emma's plight, instead making only sporadic gestures to it.
New York Post by Farran Smith Nehme
The seething passions of Flaubert’s characters are absent, except when Rhys Ifans (as a greedy merchant) or the splendidly ruthless Marshall-Green are in the room.
Measured and absorbing rather than deeply compelling or vital, this latest adaptation of a rarely well-filmed novel makes a strong effort to capture the stiflingly provincial world that Flaubert was able to describe in such precise, painstaking detail on the page.
The A.V. Club by Mike D'Angelo
Wasikowska gives a solid, emotionally precise performance, ably supported by the men around her (especially Ifans, who relishes Monsieur Lheureux’s unctuous cajolery), and the result is intelligent and eminently watchable.
The results are realistic and refined, but uneven and disappointing.
An uninspired narrative and disengaged performances ultimately keep persuasive deep feeling and captivation at a far distance.
Handsomely mounted, period perfect and starring the empathetic Mia Wasikowska in the title role, the new Madame Bovary narrows the scope and finds a different focus within Gustave Flaubert’s novel.
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
Unfortunately, Barthes brings nothing new to the familiar story.
A musical about gangsters in prohibition-era New York with exclusively child actors.
Forced to flee Russia, a young fencer becomes a physical education teacher in Estonia, but he cannot escape his past.
Marguerite sings tragically out of tune and no one has ever told her. Her husband and her close friends have always encouraged her in her illusions. Things become very complicated the day she gets it into her head to perform in front of a genuine public, at the Opera.
When a school girl disappears, suicide is suspected, and one of her classmates is suspected of having pushed her to it.
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A musical about gangsters in prohibition-era New York with exclusively child actors.
Forced to flee Russia, a young fencer becomes a physical education teacher in Estonia, but he cannot escape his past.
Marguerite sings tragically out of tune and no one has ever told her. Her husband and her close friends have always encouraged her in her illusions. Things become very complicated the day she gets it into her head to perform in front of a genuine public, at the Opera.
When a school girl disappears, suicide is suspected, and one of her classmates is suspected of having pushed her to it.