Madame Bovary (1991)

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Gustave Flaubert (based on the novel by)
Claude Chabrol (adaptation)

Release Date:

25 December 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

In nineteenth-century France, the romantic daughter of a country squire (Emma Rouault) marries a dull country doctor (Charles Bovary)...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Debt | Doctor | Clubfoot | Surgery

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Isabelle Huppert	...	Emma Bovary
Jean-François Balmer	...	Le docteur Charles Bovary
Christophe Malavoy	...	Rodolphe Boulanger
Jean Yanne	...	M. Homais - le pharmacien
Lucas Belvaux	...	Leon Dupuis
Christiane Minazzoli	...	La veuve Lefançois
Jean-Louis Maury	...	Merchant Lheureux
Florent Gibassier	...	Hippolyte
Jean-Claude Bouillaud	...	Le père Rouault - un paysan - le père d'Emma
Sabeline Campo	...	Felicité
Yves Verhoeven	...	Justin
Marie Mergey	...	La mère Bovary - la mère de Charles
François Maistre	...	Lieuvain - le conseiller de la préfecture
Thomas Chabrol	...	Le vicomte
Phillippe Abitol
Henry Ambert
Jean-Marie Arnoux
Henri Attal	...	Maltre Hareng
Gilette Barbier	...	Natasie
Dominique Clément	...	Madame Homais
Olga Colin
Claire Dalsace
Catherine Deville
Etienne Draber	...	Maitre Guillaumin
Julien Dubois
Pierre-François Dumeniaud	...	Hivert
William Clément
Michel Dupuy
Marie Guyot
Jean Joulin
Jean-Jacques Lagarde
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing		(as Louis de Lancquesaing)
René Marjac
Pierre Martot
Bernard Mazzinghi
Mona Muche
Christine Paolini	...	Mère Roler
Claude Pascadel
Christian Paumelle
Valérie Soudant
Tina Sportolaro
André Thorent	...	Dr. Canivet
Aleksandr Vatkovic
Philippe Verquin
Dominique Zardi	...	Blind Man
Jacques Dynam	...	L' abbé Bournisien
François Périer	...	Récitant / Narrator (voice)
Pierre Vielhescaze

Directed by
Claude Chabrol

Writing credits
Gustave Flaubert		(based on the novel by)
Claude Chabrol		(adaptation and dialogue)

Produced by
Marin Karmitz	....	producer

Original Music by
Jean-Michel Bernard
Matthieu Chabrol
M.J. Coignard-Helison		(as Maurice Coignard)

Cinematography by
Jean Rabier

Film Editing by
Monique Fardoulis

Production Design by
Michèle Abbé-Vannier

Set Decoration by
Jacques Mollon

Costume Design by
Corinne Jorry

Makeup Department
Jean-Pierre Berroyer	....	hair stylist
Sandrine Coraux	....	hair stylist
Sandrine Coraux	....	makeup artist
Catherine Demesmeaker	....	makeup artist
Elisabeth Perchet	....	hair stylist
Elisabeth Perchet	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Yvon Crenn	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cécile Maistre	....	assistant director
Alain Wermus	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jean-René Coulon	....	property master
Serge Le Puil	....	property buyer (as Serge Le Puyl)

Sound Department
Brigitte Grynblat	....	sound editor
André Naudin	....	foley artist
Gadou Naudin	....	foley artist
Philippe Richard	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Cendrine Dedise	....	assistant camera
Jean-Marc Rabier	....	assistant camera
Dominique Robert	....	best boy grip
Alain Tanguy	....	electrician
Michel Thiriet	....	camera operator
Richard Vidal	....	electrician

Music Department
Jean-Michel Bernard	....	music arranger
Michel Ganot	....	conductor

Other crew
Aurore Chabrol	....	script supervisor
Eva Simonet	....	press attache

Production Companies

• MK2 Productions
• CED Productions
• FR3 Films Production
• Canal+ (participation)
• Le Club des Investisseurs (participation) (as Club des Investisseurs C.D.C.)
• Credit Lyonnais (participation)
• Conseil Général de l'Eure (participation)
• Conseil Régional de Haute Normandie (participation)

Distributors

• MK2 Éditions (2002) (France) (DVD)
• Kulturföreningen Kedjan (1993) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• MK2 Diffusion (1991) (France) (theatrical)
• NEF 2 Filmproduktion (1991) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The (1991) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Triangelfilm (1993) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Atlantic Film (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Future Film (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Koch Lorber Films (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• P.F.A. Films (2010) (Italy) (all media)
• Profilmar P.C. (Spain)
• Sandrews (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (1992) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Triangelfilm (1995) (Sweden) (VHS)
• United Films (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Bande rythmo  post-synchronisation
• D.C. Audiovisuel  sound re-recording
• Eurocitel  titles
• Matériel Cinécam  camera systems
• Studios de Billancourt  auditorium
• Studios de Billancourt  editing studio
• Transpalux  electrical equipment

Also Known As:

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-13 | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Lyons-la-Forêt, Eure, France

Company:

MK2 Productions

Trivia:

In its original French version, one of the masculine voices overheard by Emma during the great Bail sequence is director Claude Chabrol's voice saying: "Mais qu'il en soit fait selon votre desir, ma chere... Lucien!".

Quotes:

Le docteur Charles Bovary:[after his wife's death] Fate's the one to blame!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Why (Not) Brazil? (2004)

Soundtrack:

Bourrée Campagnarde

Probably the worst collaboration between Chabrol and Huppert...

This movie was really deceptive to me. First, I wanted to watch it as I know that Isabelle Huppert and Claude Chabrol have amazing talents. After watching it, I thought that they both failed. I explain myself : Huppert is too pragmatic and cold to play this role. It seems like she plays every single scene as if she knew what kind of effect she will have on the people around. It's quite borrying. Emma Bovary is not Nana (from Zola's novel), she is someone who is not so interested in success, she is far more interested by passions. She is a woman living in dreams and thinking than life can be passionate as novels. I read the novel just a week before and I think that Flaubert describes well the fact that Emma Bovary is only interested in herself, in her feelings and in a "romanesque" conception of love. Huppert is far too pragmatic and not really romantic. Some scenes look "grotesque" as the one when after dancing with the Baron, she almost faints. It looks like Huppert uses a trick, which makes the scene look false. Moreover, she was probably too old to play the part of Emma Bovary (in the novel, Emma Bovary is twenty or thirty, surely not forty years old). Huppert got the part when she was almost forty and she looks too self-assured to play it well. For example, when she says to Rodolphe that she could have given her life for him, she bugles like mad woman though Emma is a passionate and really weak person. By never showing her weakness, Huppert don't find the good way to play this character.An actress like Anne Brochet or, Irène Jacob would have suited for the part perfectly (these two actresses look young enough). Isabelle Adjani would have probably been too passionate and not enough dreamy to play that part. Jeanne Balibar would have been great too. The other problem is in the way the movie is directed. The beginning of the story is all summed-up by Chabrol who doesn't show the fact that Emma Bovary and her husband Charles are far far different. The voice-over is not a great idea to explain that situation... and the fact that these scenes are so short make probably the actors play their part in a kind of caricature of themselves (which is the main problem of Huppert's interpretation). I think that Huppert and Chabrol were probably too confident to make that movie and that's probably why it can be so deceptive. The cinematography is not so intense and it looks like a movie made for TV. It could have been a quite good adaptation for a movie made for TV and released on a week evening but it's really not enough for a Cinema movie, made by two masters of Cinema.