Save and Protect


Save and Protect is a 1989 Soviet historical drama film directed by Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov, starring Cécile Zervudacki and Robert Vaab. It depicts the decline of a childlike woman as she engages in adultery and falls into crippling debt. It is loosely adapted from Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary.

Cast

  • Cécile Zervudacki as Emma
  • Robert Vaab as Charles

Reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times commented that what pushes the film forward is "Emma's escalating desperation and madness, reflected in a montage of images and sound of increasingly odd design."
The film won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1989 Montreal World Film Festival.