Title: Gemma Bovery
Director: Anne Fontaine
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy
Language: French (with English subtitles)
Based on: The graphic novel Gemma Bovery by Posy Simmonds
Plot Summary (English)
Gemma Bovery is a French-British film that tells the story of a beautiful Englishwoman named Gemma Bovery who moves to a quiet village in Normandy, France, with her husband, Charlie. Their arrival disrupts the peaceful life of Martin Joubert, a middle-aged French baker and passionate admirer of literature—particularly Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary.
To Martin’s amazement, Gemma not only shares a similar name with Flaubert’s tragic heroine, Emma Bovary, but also seems to be following a similar emotional path. She is elegant, bored with domestic life, and becomes entangled in romantic affairs. Martin becomes increasingly obsessed with her, convinced she is living out the story of Madame Bovary in real life—and he fears she might share the same tragic fate.
As events unfold, the line between fiction and reality blurs. Martin tries to intervene, believing he can rewrite the ending of her story, but fate has its own plans.
Themes
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The power of literature to shape perception
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Obsession and voyeurism
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The romanticism of tragedy
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Cultural differences between the English and the French
Main Cast
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Gemma Arterton as Gemma Bovery
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Fabrice Luchini as Martin Joubert
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Jason Flemyng as Charlie Bovery
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Niels Schneider as Hervé de Bressigny
