Gemma Bovery movie review & film summary (2015)

But later, Joubert, dirty old man that he is, imagines that he might be Emma’s older seducer, Rodolphe Boulanger, who features in what Joubert refers to as the most erotic passage in any book of that era. “A woman gets screwed in a carriage!” the subtitle tells us, though my rusty French detected that the subtitle was being polite with its verb choices. “It’s a very, very, very, very long trip!” Joubert informs us of the NC-17 rated carriage ride. Thankfully, there is no carriage ride in this movie.

Regardless of Joubert’s place in this “homage,” “Gemma Bovery” is all construction and snooty winks, no emotion. We really don’t care what happens to Gemma or anybody else, and making matters worse, the opening scene tells you of her fate so there’s no consideration that, like “Roxanne”, “Gemma Bovery” will shake its tragic underpinnings and surprise us.

Arteton is charming and clearly in charge of her character, but she’s not given much to play besides a lusty, bored woman and victim of a male-dominated fate. Fleyming is boring, as his character should be, and Luchini exudes a creepiness the movie is afraid to confront. Outside of the brain-teaser exercise of “match the plot points,” I found little to involve myself at “Gemma Bovery.” And I hope the filmmakers don’t make good on the sequel potential hidden in this film’s last joke.

At the risk of sounding like your high school English teacher (and mine too), avoid the movie and just read the damn book.

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