MovieChat Forums > Madame Bovary (1950) Discussion > why make the novel into a film?

why make the novel into a film?


The novel Madame Bovary was written by Flaubert with the intention of creating a "livre sur rien" - a book about nothing. indeed, the story in the book is nothing remarkable - a bored housewife has two fruitless affairs in Normandy. what is more important in the novel is the questions Flaubert raises about the novel as a literary form - the use of irony, the flaws of realism as a means to portray reality, and the inevitable ambiguities arising from a third person narrative. everything that makes the novel interesting exists only because Flaubert chose to write it in novel form - not a poem, not a song, not a film (of course cinema didnt exist in the 19th century). it would be impossible to carry over such features into a film, simply because we lose the objectivity and ambiguity of a third person narrator in the visual medium. therefore, it seems pointless to ever make madame bovary a film - every version i have seen is dull and misinterprets the book and its story. it is not a story of romance and love - indeed it seems that Emma is simply bored rather than in love with her men. of course id love to debate this - please feel free to disagree with my comments. but i assure you that, as a student of French literature at the University of Oxford, I will know more about the original text than you.
Keble College, Oxford, England

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wow, such irony in your post requesting comments about flaubert's complex book and you end your post saying that due to the fact you are a "student of french literature" you will know more on this topic. perhaps you should (being a valued university of oxford) student wander to a literay site for such diatribes. flaubert's book is wonderful and comparing a book to a film is useless, but being a student of IMDB filmbuff movieland "i will know more about the original context than you" caio.

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[deleted]

Monsieur, seulement un imbécile pourrait faire un commentaire comme celui qui conclut votre "contribution". Vous n'avez la moindre idée.


~Un docteur ès lettres, Université de Lovain.






If the Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard, It can also be like a chicken-pox mark.

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Monsieur, seulement un imbécile pourrait faire un commentaire comme celui qui conclut votre "contribution".


What's French for LOL? ;)




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[deleted]

James Mason had the same concerns about making Madame Bovary into film. He thought it was pretty dreadful.

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It's true that great novels do not always turn out as great films. However, here's one good thing about film versions: often, many people watch the film version, that have never read the book. Sometimes a given film can peak someone's interest, and they will actually read the original novel. This is a good thing.

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Well said JGRV-1, I was thinking the same thing!

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That's about the only positive result of turning "Lolita" and "Ulysses" into films.

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Lolita to me was a fascinating movie because of James Mason ....

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The word is "pique" not "peak".

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While I have not watched every adaptation of Madame Bovary, after watching this version I'd say you are spot on.

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