Madame Bovary
Emma (Mia Wasikowska) marries Charles Bovary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), a dull country doctor, so as to escape her father's pig farm. When marital ennui proves unbearable, she has a series of love affairs, first with the wealthy nobleman Marquis D’Andervilliers (Logan Marshall-Green) and then with the romantic Leon (Ezra Miller), a law clerk and former neighbor. In the hope of ascending the social ladder, she begins to spend extravagantly, purchasing a new wardrobe and redecorating her house. The town merchant and moneylender, Monsieur Lheureux (Rhys Ifans) encourages Emma's new fondness for shopping and happily offers her an extensive credit line to finance the purchases. After Charles learns of her affairs and the crushing debt she has accrued, Emma begs both lovers for financial help, but they refuse her. Her devastating fall from grace is complete when she attempts to prostitute herself to pay Lheureux and is rejected. Driven to despair, Emma crumbles under the guilt of her mistakes and consumes a bottle of arsenic, dying tragically alone.
|