Ah, the English-French culture clash! Loved the sad-faced neighbour and his forever critical wife. And their dog Gus. And then the local Englishman who loves France for its cheese and wine (only?). And his gushy French wife. And the local Adonis' mother. These are all truly memorable comic characters. They are more interesting than the central couple, the Boverys. They make it well worth watching. The odd well-chosen Anglo-Saxon word or phrase (sometimes in French!) puts everyone in their place, including poor Gus! Nice soundtrack too.

Gemma Bovery (Gemma Arterton) and her older husband Charlie move from London to a small town in Normandy, France. Their new neighbor Martin Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) is the baker and a fan of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Martin is immediately enchanted by the lovely Gemma and her literary name. She gets restless and has an affair with a young man named Hervé de Bressigny. She is surprised by the return of her cheating former lover Patrick.Gemma Arterton enchants this movie. She is the heart of this. Fabrice Luchini is compelling as an obsessive fan without being too creepy. I am not as enchanted with the ending. It is trying to be poetic but it feels too manufactured. I was looking for the rat poison but I would love any number of ways to go. It needs to be more substantive. It needs to be Gemma's action. I was looking for Gemma to raise the stakes with her relationships. The ending is not the greatest but the movie will always have Gemma.

REVIEW OF "GEMMA BOVERY" By Alex Deleon: Viewed at Hollywood Press screening, May 21, 2015. Martin Joubert, a semi-retired ex-Parisian literary Intellectual with a tremendous passion for the works of famous French novelist Gustave Flaubert, now runs a gourmet bakery in Normandy in the very village where Flaubert wrote his masterpiece Madame Bovary. During the summer an English couple takes up residence in a small farm nearby. Not only are the names of the new arrivals --Gemma and Charles Bovery -- almost identical to the characters in the book, but their everyday life seems to be following Flaubert's story uncannily, step by step, as Martin stalks Gemma's amorous trail about town more or less discretely, hoping to maybe have a little fling with her himself -- His wife, of course, taking a dim view of his excessive interest in this young beautiful bouncy English broad. Life in a spooky imitation of art? --or what! ~ In the novel the heroine ends up poisoned and dies an excruciating death, so where can all this lead...? -- Director Anne Fontaine, (born 1959 in Luxemburg) is an actress and writer who typically works on female centric pictures such as Audry Tautou starrer "Coco Before Chanel", 2009, but here she really hits her stride.Gemma Arterton (as the tantalizing reincarnation of Emma Bovary) is built along the lines of fellow English lady Jacqueline Bissett at her most buxom (The Deep, 1977), has much of the same charm, and was a real discovery. Fabrice Luchini, one of France's best alĺ around actors, was a taunting pleasure to watch every step of the way as Joubert, the local master baker and Bovary expert, who is enthralled by the very sexy much younger new neighbor from England. He is actually as much the leering center of the picture as sexpot Gemma, but familiarity with the original novel by Flaubert is more or less assumed. Without a fairly good knowledge of French much of the humor contained in the witty dialogue will be lost on American auds. I found myself to be the only member of the full house evening audience chuckling at many points in the picture. Nevertheless, the story itself is gripping, the cinematography gorgeous, and the erotic scenes strapping enough to make this work for higher I.Q. American audiences. I thought the ending was a little forced -- like the tacked on resolution at the end of a whodunnit murder mystery --but who cares when the rest of the picture was so delectable. The fragrance of the breads in the frequent boulangerie scenes were so appetising as to make anyone who has ever been to Paris (or Rouen!) want to get back there ASAP. Overall, a delightful way to spend an evening away from France. Alex, The morning after, still somewhat in cinematic thrall ...

No idea how close this sticks to the novel, but it's clever and charming.Takes a while to settle down - yes, Thatcherism is a crude divider - but once the narrator assumes the director's role it gets interesting. He's played well, and the lead actress is jolie.The other characters aren't really bedded down, especially the husband and the former husband, so that seems superficial. But the plot winds along merrily and overall it's amusing. Music and sound are very good too.Problem for me is the climax, which is just daft. But it's followed by a funny epilogue.ps. An example of bi-lingual production. I saw a Taiwan film recently that does it better - draws you in so you don't notice you're reading subtitles. But that was an action film with minimal dialogue.