Review for Gervaise (René Clément)

Having been bowled over by ‘Forbidden Games’, concurrently released with three other René Clément films, I was prepared to be impressed by ‘Gervaise’. And I was. It’s a beautiful looking film, all the better for the crisp transfer which must surely be an equal to the earlier Criterion release, with some stirring performances from its principals. 


For ‘Gervaise’ it was very much a reunion of the winning team that created ‘Forbidden Games’ with screen-writers Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost brought to create this adaptation of Émile Zola's tragic novel L'Assommoire.


Gervaise (played wonderfully by a bewitching Maria Schell) is a washer-woman whose lover (Armand Mestral) walks out on her and their two children. From the very outset of the film we see Gervaise as a victim of this cruel womanizer and her attempts to keep him from leaving. Indeed, the opening taunts from the other ladies in the laundry, even in front of her children, are cruel and spiteful, a tone that is pretty much maintained throughout this melodramatic opus.


Shortly afterwards she marries an illiterate roofer, Coupeau (François Périer), who starts out as a decent enough husband but who eventually becomes an alcoholic after he's injured in a fall. A desperate Gervaise borrows money from a friend who is secretly in love with her (Goujet - Jacques Harden) in order to open her own laundry. But the bad luck shows no signs of stopping. Indeed, if it wasn’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at all. 


Instead of repaying the money she’s earned to Goujet, it transpires that Henri has been spending it on booze. If that isn’t bad enough, Lantier (the womanizing husband who abandoned her) returns and strikes up a friendship with Henri who eventually suggests that he stays in her homw. So now, rather than having a single abusive husband, she has two. To add to the misery, Goujet (who loves her and she him) has been thrown in jail.


Despite the desperate and relentless misery of the piece, the sets and costumes are impressive and the cinematography and direction masterful.


I have never read the novel but the film is considered to be a faithful reflection (if a little condensed) of its narrative and it all plays out cohesively enough.


The real tragedy of the film is accentuated by Schell’s sunny disposition and natural beauty, all wasted here time and time again through the selfishness of others. There is no happy ending here so if it’s a feel good movie you want, this isn’t it.


There are no extras on the disc though with such a stunning transfer of such a powerful film, complaining about that seems surly. Definitely one for the ‘to buy’ list.