ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a close analysis of three different filmic versions of the same scene from Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary as directed by Renoir in 1934, Minnelli in 1949 and Chabrol in 1991. Two versions are by French directors, albeit 50 years apart, and one of them comes from post-war Hollywood. This focus on the same scene enables us to compare and control various filmic styles, the visuality of Flaubert's writing, as well as the spectatorship's cognitive map when comparing the various histories, aesthetics and methods of interpretation. Legions of literary critics have commented upon the painterly or sculptural, the sensuous or plastic aspects of Flaubert's writing and style. The chapter also discusses the models of filmic composition, the strategies of translation from text to image and their consequences for interpretation, along with issues of implicit ideologies and modes of enunciation in the field of film history and film analysis.
