Gemma Bovery
classified 15 SIn this sexy and lighthearted re-imagining of Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel (itself a great re-imagining of Flaubert’s literary classic) Gemma Arterton stars as an earthy beauty who stirs passions in the male inhabitants of a Normandy village.When an English couple (Arterton and Jason Flemyng) move into a small Normandy village, Martin (Fabrice Luchini, superb), the baker and resident Flaubert fan, can’t believe it: here are two real life figures who seem to be replicating the behaviour of his favourite fictional characters right before his eyes.
As reality sets in on the Bovery’s fantasy of rural French domesticity, their marriage begins to fray and life imitates art when Gemma becomes attracted to a dashing aristocrat. What will happen? Will Gemma meet the same fate as Flaubert’s doomed heroine?Director Anne Fontaine (the similarly sumptuous Coco Before Chanel) has combined cheeky literary mash-up, sensuous romance and witty feminist commentary to create a heady celebration of French provincial life.