Blu-ray/DVDebut: That Bovary dame is back via Sophie Barthes and Mia Wasikowska

Coming on the heels of one of the year's most enjoyable comedies -- Gemma Bovery, which holds a skewed but very funny mirror up to Flaubert's famous novel -- this latest screen rendition of the French classic certainly proves pretty to look at (fine cinematog-raphy and costuming) and pleasant to listen to (via the some-times plummy sounds of a classy international cast). And yet, as it moves slowly along, it becomes more and more bloodless, even tiresome.

The problem, I suspect, is the usual one when adapting an ultra-famous and revered novel into a two-hour movie: How do you pack in all the detail needed to make your characters rich and real, while coming within touching distance of their on-the-page counterparts. Too often you don't, and I'm afraid that, regarding MADAME BOVARY, directed by Sophie Barthes (shown at left) and adapted by Ms Barthes and Felipe Marino, this is the case once again.

What TrustMovies remembers, from when he first read the novel several decades ago, Barthes and Marino have been relatively faithful to it, choosing events and situations  wisely enough to unveil the characters of Emma, her husband, various lovers and friends -- especially the fellow who gets her in the most trouble, an unscrupulous "decorator," played with marvelous and sleazy serpentine grace by Rhys Ifans.

Emma's fall as both a "moral" person in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of the reader/viewer who fully understand how this happens and who else beside our put-upon heroine are also to blame -- all the men who surround her, including her husband, as well as society itself --  is what makes the novel so powerful. But that power is barely seized upon by the movie-makers and their cast.

Mia Wasikowska (above and above) is generally a very fine actress, and she does what she can in this film, too. Never a major beauty, here she uses her face and her intelligence to create a character who tries to take what she can from her somewhat circumscribed life. But Wasikowska is stymied by a screenplay and dialog that too often seem prosaic and expository. Imagining how folk spoke and behaved in eras past is not the easiest thing to capture, but I've certainly seen it done better than it is here. The "look" is fully there, but neither the dialog nor the innate behavior is brought well enough to life.

The supporting cast is equally stymied by the film's failure to come fully alive. Actors like Paul Giamatti (above, second from right) and Ezra Miller (below, left) seem hemmed in by costume and environment. (Giamatti did much better in Ms Barthes' Cold Souls, while Miller seems to have placed his usual energy and focus on hold).

For viewers unfamiliar with anything but the novel's name and storied reputation, seeing this film will likely put them in that frame of mind that asks, once the movie is over, "This is some big-deal classic?"

From Alchemy, spoken in English and running exactly two hours, both the DVD and Blu-ray of Madame Bovary hit the streets yesterday, August 4, for purchase and/or rental.

Streaming tip: The French bourgeoisie again in Eric Lavaine's smart and gorgeous BARBECUE

What a pleasure it is to view -- in high definition, too -- the eye-poppingly gorgeous location that plays a large part in BARBECUE, another welcome addition to that ever-growing genre of modern ensemble comedies about the travails of the always-ripe-for-a-little-satire French bourgeoisie. Now available to stream via Netflix, this 2014 film tracks four couples (one of them recently split) and their single, shy-unto-near-silence friend who always tags along, as they bond, argue, spill out secrets and help each other over some tumultuous times. Not too tumul-tuous, however; this sub-genre is a spin-off of the rom-com, after all.

As co-written (with Héctor Cabello Reyes) and directed by Eric Lavaine (pictured at right), the movie sprints delightfully along as it tells the tale of one fellow in the group -- that gorgeous and talented hunk, Lambert Wilson, shown below and at bottom, who seems to grows even more so with age -- who suffers a sudden heart attack while jogging, and in the aftermath decides to change his life.

M. Wilson leads a very capable cast through its paces, which involves the stress and strain of marriage, (in)fidelity, health, economics, employment and dating -- among other travails.

The delight to be found in films such as this generally comes from the characterizations and the acting on view, as well as via the often beautiful setting in which these members of the haute bourgeoisie find themselves. Barbecue is no exception to the rule, and in fact proves one of the better recent examples of this sub-genre (certainly better than the overblown and over-long Little White Lies of a couple of years previous).

The film's look at infidelity among both men and women is done more evenhandedly than usual here, with plenty of blame and understanding to go around, and not so much of the typical patriarchal influence we often see in cinema.

The ensemble cast is excellent, with each member contributing humor and feeling in pretty much equal doses. But the film's ace-in-the-hole has got to be its amazing locations, whether it's that vacation spot high in the hills at which our troupe assembles, where the light and colors -- viewed in hi-def -- are simply exquisite, or the fine and fancy restaurant in which their final celebration takes place.

Almost no middle-class person I know can any longer afford to live like this, but the movies -- bless 'em! -- still enable us to enjoy this kind of beauty and pleasure, at least from afar. Give Barbecue a shot and bask, if only temporarily,  in its atmosphere and charm.

You'll find the film -- in French with English subtitles and running a pleasant 98 minutes -- on Netflix, and maybe elsewhere, too (though Amazon does not seem to have procured it).

THÉRÈSE: Claude Miller's final film is one of his best, with a splendid Tautou & Lellouche

The late Claude Miller (1942-2012) was not a "dark" filmmaker, though he never made life look simple nor easy. Don't try to find villains in Miller's movies: The vicissitudes of life, along with nature and nurture, make for perfectly fine stand-ins. In one (among many) of his "bests," Class Trip, a young boy discovers that his father is a serial killer; in a more recent one, the excellent Holocaust film A Secret, jealousy, disappoint-ment and depression allow a mother to sacrifice her son and herself to the Nazis. The problems and results of parenting, birth and adopted, take their toll in the remarkable I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive. Now we have THÉRÈSE, Miller's final film (the writer/director is shown below), adapted from the novel by François Mauriac, and from the resulting adaptation, it appears that this Miller/Mauriac match was made in movie heaven.

If there is a villain here, it is the society of 1920s rural France itself, with its strictures regarding sex and class, in which a smart woman must either sacrifice herself for and to her husband or, as in the case of our young Thérèse -- played by Audrey Tautou, below, in very fine form, if already (so soon!?) a bit too old for this role -- go a little crazy in her quest for autonomy. Don't let the age thing bother you much, however; in all other regards, Ms Tautou nails the role. By the end of this memorable film, you understand Thérèse as you would your own daughter (if you've been paying attention to your daughter, that is) and despite everything you've seen here, you'll root for her something fierce.

In the role of Thérèse's husband, Bernard, is a fine French actor who continues to show off his rather remarkable range: Gilles Lellouche. From thriller heroes (Point Blank) to comedic characters (My Piece of the Pie to rom-coms (Little White Lies), this guy has grown from small-role character actor to versatile leading man.

As M. Desqueyroux, Lellouche expertly captures everything from the particular country-style haute bourgeoise class to the post-WWI time period. His final scene in the film is both heartbreaking and ironic: If only Bernard had been able to learn and grow a bit sooner, how different things might have been.

Miller captures the period, as well as the particularly stifling rural life especially well, and his supporting cast shines, too: Anais Demoustier (above, left), as Bernard's half-sister; Catherine Arditi (above, right), as her mother; and Francis Perrin as Thérèse's father.

So far as I know, M. Miller, who is perhaps best noted re his career as the filmmaker mentored by Francois Truffaut, has never been given a retrospective here in New York by the FSLC, where many of his films made their New York debut. A retrospective is long overdue, as writer/director/adapter Miller, in my estimation, had surpassed his mentor in many ways. Perhaps now that he has left us, we'll see one at last.

Meanwhile, Thérèse, via MPI Pictures and running 110 minutes, opens this Friday, August 23, in New York City at the Angelika Film Center and  the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, and in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Royal, Town Center 5 and Playhouse 7. Other playdates around the country are in the offing, as well.