MovieChat Forums > Madame Bovary (1950) Discussion > What a supremely selfish woman!!!!

What a supremely selfish woman!!!!

posted 17 years ago by SusanJL
26 replies | jump to latest

I saw this movie for the first time, and all through it Emma Bovary continues to be such an immature, self-centered,class A fool. She had a gentle, loving husband and a beautiful child - and threw it all in the garbage can! How many people would have loved to be in her situation? How could someone with any soul at all abandon her own child!? I had absolutely no sympathy for her at all.
She reminded me so much of selfish Scarlett O'Hara. I had hoped, like Pip in the novel "Great Expectations", she would come back down to earth and GROW UP, but no. I only wished her husband had dumped her like Rhett dumped Scarlett.

[–] RunTheWorld 15 years ago

My only issue with Emma Bovary is that the pursuit of her passions and desires end up affecting and hurting those around her. I have no problem with people seeking out passion and excitement, but when it's at the expense of others, especially your loved ones, that's when it becomes a problem. That's why I see her as a selfish woman, because she didn't care about what happened to those around her, she just wanted her own happiness.

No canned cheese or g-strings? How am I supposed to celebrate New Years?

[–] idcook 15 years ago

Granted, but those around her, except the children, play pivotal roles in admiring, encouraging and abetting realization of her passions. Each a contributor to whatever level of damage they experience as a result.

We get to see what befalls Emma’s family because she’s the focus of the tale. It doesn’t take us so deeply into the homes of others in the story, but we do get to see each reduced by their willing involvement in her schemes. At which point (when confronted with the spectre of personal harm) most duck out just before they’re entirely undone.

“Your thinking is untidy, like most so-called thinking today.” (Murder, My Sweet)

[–] junenj 14 years ago

My problem with Mme. Bovary is not so much that she is, well - shallow and extremely self-centered,
nor that she has aspirations to what she considers a 'better station' in life. Nor with her attraction
to other men who are oodles and oodles more charismatic than her husband. I would guess that those
aspirations were common back in the day. As they are now, I suppose.

What I find aggravating is that, throughout all her misadventures - she simply DOES NOT LEARN! lol

She just doesn't THINK, or reflect. Ever, it seems. Except to feel sorry for herself.

She doesn't look back and realize that she's made stupid decisions, and needs to make some lifestyle
adjustments, and re-arrange her priorities.

Nope - she just plunges headlong from one personal disaster to the next.

So, I agree that she is selfish, but it would have helped if she eventually had some kind of epiphany -
BEFORE she decided to take the arsenic.

[–] Benihanahasnofunflare 14 years ago

Any sort of thinking, or learning would result in trying to do what is broadly normal, and totally incongruent with her singular desires. Making it pointless to do so.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] seahawk3133 10 years ago

Let's face it... 50% of marriages end in divorce & probably half who don't get divorced are unhappy.. So 75% are unhappy...

I'd say 1/3 has a loving husband whose wife who is like her
1/3 has a loving wife whose husband is like her
1/3 is other reasons - both are wrong, or both do nothing wrong

So - in conclusion - this type of person is out there a lot more than you would think...Not always social climbing (my ex cheated & desired to drop on the social ladder - loved guys without jobs)

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Kristoff_V 9 years ago

She was dying of boredom, as anybody with her level of beauty, education, and sophisticated tastes would be in a place like Yonville [Yawn-ville].

Only a simple and plain person would have wanted to be in her situation.

Her expectations, based on her beauty and upbringing, were far in excess of her reality. She felt she deserved much better and her reaction to her situation was inevitable. Flaubert's plot is a marvel of architecture.

Flaubert was making a commentary on expectations as well as a commentary on bourgeois philistines who have no creative/intellectual interests and thus only bounce between work, expectation, and boredom. I believe these are his primary themes.