Trapped on a small provincial French farm with her widowed father, Emma (Francesca Amis) dreams of marrying her way up the social ladder and leading a glittering, fairytale life amid the bright lights of the big city.
To escape, she marries a young doctor, Charles Bovary (Tom Conti), but his dull, pedestrian ways and lack of ambition soon leave her disenchanted and dreaming of a grander life elsewhere. Enchanted by stories of the many affairs of Mary Antoinette and the great romances she finds in novels, Madame Bovary embarks on a path of betrayal and illicit affairs in her desperate search for fulfilment. It is a treacherous path that will ultimately lead not to her dreams but her utter ruin. Madame Bovary vividly depicts one woman’s search for happiness in the world of class struggle, manners and expectations of mid-nineteenth century France.
Shown on PBS Masterpiece Theatre.