Madame Bovary **** (1934, Valentine Tessier, Pierre Renoir, Fernand Fabre, Daniel Lecourtois) – Classic Movie Review 7345

[Spoiler alert] Jean Renoir’s captivating and compelling 1934 film version of Gustave Flaubert’s classic literature novel story of how Emma Bovary (Valentine Tessier) is stifled after she marries boring Normandy doctor Charles Bovary (Pierre Renoir, the director’s older brother), romances handsome, ne’er-do-well philanderer Rodolphe Boulanger (Fernand Fabre), has other adulterous affairs and starts a tragic fall that leads to her penury, disgrace, humiliation and finally suicide.

A miscast Tessier looks wrong for the role, and is too strong, mature and imperious, but Pierre Renoir and Fabre give ideal performances in this beautifully photographed (by Jean Bachelet and Alphonse Gibory in black and white), handsome-looking, emotionally powerful classic French production of Madame Bovary by film-master Jean Renoir.

Showing its age, Madame Bovary can be creaky and plays a bit stilted in places and is awkwardly cut back to 117 minutes (or 101 minutes) from a three-hour original.

The score is by Darius Millhaud but music from Gaetano Donizetti’s 1835 opera Lucia di Lammermoor is effectively used.

Also in the cast are Daniel Lecourtois, Edmond Beauchamp, Georges Deneubourg, André Fouché, Hélène Manson, Christiane Dor, Henri Vilbert, Max Dearly, Robert Le Vigan, Alice Tissot, Pierre Larquey, Monette Dinay and Louis Florencie.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7345

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