Madame B 2014 | 96′ | Colour | Mieke Bal & Michelle Williams Gamaker.
Genre: Drama. Finnish, French, Swedish, English; English subtitles
The theme of Madame B is the entwinement of capitalism and romantic love. Updated from Flaubert’s prophetic 1856 novel Madame Bovary, Madame B explores the way dominant ideologies from the late nineteenth century are still rampant – specifically, within the framework of patriarchy, capitalism and its investments in emotions, while love is for sale. Today more than ever, capitalism and romantic love, both luring people with the contradictory expectation of permanent excitement, conspire to make individual lives hard, disappointing, and sometimes ruinous.