Stunningly produced adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's controversial (at the time) novel, directed skillfully by Minnelli. The film is framed with an odd (and only fairly successful) story that features Mason as Flaubert, on trial for indecency following the publication of
Madame Bovary.
Mason proceeds to detail for the jury (and the viewer) his novel (this device harms the film somewhat because it distances the viewer from Jones' character by removing the events from a conventional filmic reality). Jones is a temperamental beauty who leaves a convent to help her father. Her
boredom is suspended when Heflin, a young doctor, enters her life and proposes marriag...
Released:
1949
Rated:
NR
Length:
115 mins