The Cathedral Seduction — Madame Bovary

Part Three begins with Léon in Paris studying law. He used to think about Emma, but other desires grew over that memory. When he sees her again at Rouen after three years, his passion returns. He feels confident with a small-town doctor's wife in a way he would not feel with a wealthy Paris woman. After the opera he follows the Bovarys and visits Emma at their inn the next day.

They sit alone and trade sad stories about their lonely lives. Léon says he loved her all along. Emma says they must stay friends, but she agrees to meet him at the cathedral the next morning. That night she writes a letter cancelling the meeting but decides to give it to him in person. At the cathedral she tries to pray while the church guide talks endlessly about tombs and bells. Léon pays the guide to go away.

Léon calls a cab and pulls Emma inside. She says it is improper, but he says people do this in Paris. The cab drives all over Rouen for hours with the blinds closed. The driver is exhausted and villagers stare. Emma throws torn pieces of her cancellation letter out the window. At six o'clock a veiled woman steps out in a back street. Charles knows nothing. The affair has begun.