Director: Joyce Fitzpatrick, Brian Shackelford

Plot: About the rise and fall of St. Louis, Missouri’s premier black hospital that trained the largest number of Black doctors and nurses in the world from 1937 through 1979, before and after desegregation.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Interesting History Lesson

Story: The Color of Medicine: The Story of Homer G Phillips Hospital starts at the history of how the black community in St. Louis first started to come together with Homer G Phillips looking to create change and opportunity in the growing world, including pushing for the end of segregation, before needing to settle with a chance to get the first Black ran hospital, giving doctors a chance to learn for the future.

After Homer G Phillips is murdered, the hospital gets named after him, which soon starts to see the increase in movement in creating opportunities for the black community and a safe place for the patients where they wouldn’t be judged.

Thoughts on The Color of Medicine: The Story of Homer G Phillips Hospital

Final Thoughts – This is an important history lesson about one of the most important buildings in American history, we see how the hospital got its name, from an important activist Homer G Phillips, who fought for equal rights and how his efforts were able to get the hospital opened. We hear different stories of what the hospitals meant to members of the community for the decades, as well as doctors who were given opportunities they would never have gotten at the time. We once again have the spotlight shone on the behaviour which held back certain people potential for such a stupid reason, in a world where if we could have worked together for years, we could have achieved so much more in life. If you want to learn more about history in America and how one building helped in a movement that could have helped the future for many going forward.

Overall: Must watch History.

Director: Anne Fontaine

Writer: Pascall Bonitzer, Anne Fontaine (Screenplay) Posy Simmonds (Novel)

Starring: Fabrice Luchini, Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng, Isabelle Candelier, Niels Schneider, Mel Raido

Plot: Martin, an ex-Parisian well-heeled hipster passionate about Gustave Flaubert who settled into a Norman village as a baker, sees an English couple moving into a small farm nearby. Not only are the names of the new arrivals Gemma and Charles Bovery, but their behavior also seems to be inspired by Flaubert’s heroes.

Tagline – Can life really imitate art?

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Simple Romance Film

Story: Gemma Bovery starts when small village baker Martin Joubert (Luchini) learns about his new English neighbours, Gemma (Arterton) and Charlie Bovery (Flemyng), who just so happen to share the names of his favourite novel characters Madame Bovery, Martin starts to see the similarities with the neighbours and the characters as he spends time watching Gemma.

Gemma ends starting to have an affair with the local French man, one that Martin sees happening and wants to figure out how to stop her making what he sees as a mistake, just like the characters in his favourite novels.

Thoughts on Gemma Bovery

Characters – Martin is the village baker, he is a huge fan of Flaubert’s novels with Madame Bovery being his favourite, he has been living his normal life until his new neighbours spark an interest in his life because of their names, he spends his time following Gemma around trying to make sure she doesn’t make the same mistakes that the character in the books once made, making bets with his dog along the way. Gemma Bovery is the English neighbour that has just moved to France with her husband, she has started to become bored of that relationship getting involved in an affair, one that Martin witnesses, seeing the end of her relationship. Charlie is the husband that has always supported Gemma only to see the distance building between the two. Valerie is the wife of Martin, who sees her husband get into the mindset of trying to help because of his obsession with books.

Performances – Fabrice Luchini is entertaining to watch through the film as he is often talking to himself. Gemma Arterton is a great choice for this role, she gets to thieve through the role too. The rest of the cast do struggle to make an impact in the story on the levels you would imagine, which disappoints.

Story – The story follows a French man that believes his neighbour Gemma is following the footsteps of Madame Bovery and starts to get worried about her decisions, when she starts having an affair. This story does follow the ideas of how a person can become obsessed with life imitating art and just how dangerous trying to stop art going can be, it shows how easily affair can happen with people who do seem to be happy, in the end the story doesn’t really engage on the levels it wants to and soon becomes one that you could easily forget.

Comedy/Romance – The comedy comes mostly from the sneaking around that Martin does, it gets laughs in places which will be fun, the romance shows how easily love can come and go from the people in your life.

Settings – The film is set in a small French village which makes for a beautiful backdrop to everything going on in the film.

Scene of the Movie – Who is to blame?

That Moment That Annoyed Me – I have always disliked a film that bounces between English and another language.

Final Thoughts – This is a romance film that shows how obsession can take over life whether it be to see how people see somebody’s else life or their own.

Overall: Romance with a novel.

Rating