Murray State's Cinema International program presents the French film Gemma Bovery this week. Program director Dr. Thérèse St. Paul speaks to Tracy Ross about the upcoming screenings.
From the MSU Cinema International website:
"Anne Fontaine's film is a vibrant seriocomic re-imagining of Gustave Flaubert's literary classic Madame Bovary and a clever adaptation of Posy Simmonds' graphic novel, Gemma Bovery.
Life imitates art in uncanny ways when British Gemma Bovery and her husband, Charles, move to a charming old French farmhouse in the very same Normandy village where the novel was written 156 years earlier.
Their welcoming neighbor, the local baker and Flaubert expert, Martin Joubert, becomes entranced with Gemma and sets out to be her guide to her new surroundings. As reality sets in on the dream life in rural France, the Bovery's marriage begins to fray, and Gemma catches the eye of a handsome playboy, which seems to be fulfilling Joubert's worst fears that her destiny is replicating that of Flaubert's doomed heroine.
This movie is at once a cheeky literary mash-up, a sensuous romance, a witty feminist commentary, and a heady celebration of French provincial life."
"It is not really necessary to have read or seen the adaptation of the 19th-century classic by Flaubert to understand and appreciate Gemma Bovery," St. Paul begins. "It really is a wink at the great 19th-century novel."
"Of course, if you've seen the movie Madame Bovary, the classic, or read the book, you'll probably see all the hints that are made at the classic. The movie makes a good point in actually having it narrated. The story within a story is narrated by the local baker."
"So, you kind of get an idea of what the original was like," she continues, "though you might not have read it. The story has an interesting twist. It's not a straight adaptation. It's really smart; I think people will like it."
MSU Cinema International presents Gemma Bovery in the Barkley Room on Thursday, September 30th, and the Curris Center Theater on Saturday, October 2nd. Both screenings are at 7:30 pm and on the third floor of the Curris Center.
Screenings are free and open to the public. For more information about the MSU Cinema International program, visit its website.
