How others will see it. This juicy tale has Jones running around he husband with two other men, a Production Code no-no that is certain to lead to cinematic punishment of her character. While the moral-minded might condemn her, most people of practical methods would salute her, should her chicanery prove out. Certainly, most will not take pleasure in her downfall. But like Shakespearean tragedy, they can't turn away, either.
In other words, the story will hook many viewers who stumble across it and watch a few minutes. It's black and white, and therefore not accessble to many below AARP age. Also, adultery is only hinted at, rather than demonstrated on screen, as is currently the fashion even though body doubles are often used for the best parts. Despite these 'weaknesses,' which really aren't weaknesses at all, I believe that women (in particular) will want to see how things turn out.
How I felt about it. The seeds of Jones' downfall sprout early on. She marries a doctor because he is a big step above working the farm. But she can't love him, because she longs for a yet higher step: the aristocracy. Who is eager to accept (and use) her because of her beauty and vitality.
Unable to parry the advances of wealthy playboy Louis Jourdan, she imagines that he can deliver her to a grand and lavish life. But she is merely a temporary obsession for him, as he is more perceptive (and experienced) than Van Heflin. He knows that Jones' hunger for the better life is insatiable. The practicalities of the role of wife, or even of lover, are of no interest to her.
The chain-smoking financier Lheureux (Frank Allenby) is correct in his assessment of other's opinions of himself and Madame Bovary. His shrewdly leading her into impossible debt is merely financial genius on his part, while her behavior and motives are disreputable. After all, she ran up bills to chase Louis Jourdan, and stuck Van Heflin with the tab. That both Jourdan and Lheureux see her as prey is beside the point.
While the Production Code passes judgment on poor Jones, what about the cuckold, Van Heflin? He loyally stands by her, raising the daughter on his won and paying (some) of her bills, while she neglects family to chase of dreams of storybook splendor. Heflin repeatedly says he is a 'bad doctor,' but is he? His patiends demand his services, and do well. He is a good doctor, cursed with modesty. His blunder is that he sees Jones not as she is, a consuming flame, but as he would be in her place, a dutiful spouse.
But he'll never be as big a fool as Jones, who also can't see people as they really are. People who want to use her, she sees as helpers up the staircase of social success. Trouble is, the people at the top, along the way, and at the bottom can all have equally black souls.