Blu-ray Review: Anne Fontaine's 'Gemma Bovery' starring Gemma Arterton

Fans of fiction are often so dedicated to the material they love that they see parallels in real life everywhere. Martin Joubert, the main character in French director Anne Fontaine's latest work, Gemma Bovery, is one such fan. The moment a British couple with the last name of Bovery move into the house across the street in their Normandy village, his ears perk up. As a fan of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Martin must become friends with this couple and prevent the same tragedy that took Emma Bovery's life in fiction from becoming reality.

Martin (Fabrice Luchini) is particularly concerned by Gemma (Gemma Arterton) because he's convinced that she is going to fall in love with a young man and cheat on her husband Charlie (Jason Flemyng). Although, he really wishes that Gemma would cheat on Charlie with him. His own desire for her ensures that he will end up putting Gemma on the road to becoming a real Emma Bovary, despite his attempts to make sure she doesn't. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, if only because Martin refuses to see the truth: Gemma is not like a fictional character from an 1856 novel.

Gemma Bovery is a film that feels lighter than air, with its beautiful cinematography by Christophe Beaucarne and lovely score by Bruno Calais. Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel, Adore) lovingly portrays Normandy like a region stuck in the 19th century, as if her characters are out of place. Perhaps that's why Martin, who fled Paris for the countryside, wishes to bring to life a romanticized view. Even as the French characters bemoan about how the English think of Normandy, they wish they could see the beautiful, mythical world that doesn't exist too.

While the film is filled with some fine performances – Arterton adds complexity to her character that the script does not and Luchini has a face that belongs in silent films – the plot gets a bit too twisted for its own good. Based on a British graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, it's obvious that Fontaine and co-writer Pascal Bonitzer have to add some twists to bring the straightforward story to even 100 minutes. Some of that makes the film seem too long, especially since it is at its best when it's funny. The moment when Martin pretends he's a film director is genius and actually comes directly from Simmonds' book.

The film, which was screened at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival – where Sophie Barthes' straight adaptation of Madame Bovary was also screened – reaches Blu-ray from Music Box Films today. The disc includes a few neat special features, including a 20-minute Q&A session with Fontaine, a 20-minute making-of documentary and a few pages from Simmonds' novel (in French) to flip through.

Gemma Bovery will likely pop-up on a streaming service and, when it does, it's worth checking out. It's a fluffy film that touches a theme that overs have done better. Once you get the ball rolling on fate, it's hard to stop it. At least, that's how it works in the movies.