I Am Not Madame Bovary (我不是潘金莲, "I Am Not Pan Jinlian") is a 2016 Chinese film directed by Feng Xiaogang and written by writer Liu Zhenyun. It is based on Liu's 2012 novel I Did Not Kill My Husband.
It tells the story of Li Xuelian (Fan Bingbing), who stages a divorce with her husband in order to side-step a Chinese law that would prevent them from owning a second apartment together. However, when her husband claims the divorce was real and proceeds to remarry, besmirching Li Xuelian's reputation with accusations of infidelity, Li Xuelian decides to get justice by getting their divorce nullified, so she can divorce him legitimately.
I Am Not Madame Bovary is Feng, Liu and Fan's second collaboration together, twelve years after their first, Cell Phone.
This film provides examples of:
- Aspect Ratio Switch: Most of the film is shot in an unusual aspect ratio, a circle (similar to the final shot of every James Bond theme). When Li Xuelian brings her crusade to Beijing, the aspect ratio switches to square. It goes back to the circle when she returns to her hometown.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Li Xuelian's desire to not have an abortion is a major motive behind the divorce scheme.
- In-Scene Title Text: Most characters are introduced by their job position written next to their heads or faces.
- Literary Allusion Title: The Chinese title references Pan Jinlian, a character from Jin Ping Mei and minor character from Water Margin. The English title references the title character of Madame Bovary.
- Motive Misidentification: Rare heroic example, where the motives are hidden from the audience. Li Xuelian spends the entire film declaring that she and her husband faked their divorce in order to get a second place. the ending reveals that they actually concocted the scheme because she was pregnant and they wanted two kids; a loophole in the law would allow them to "re-marry" and have a second child.
