Based on an Emile Zola novel this is the story of a poor lame woman who works as a laundress in mid 19th century Paris and her bad fortunes especially with her choice of men that come her way. Gervaise is played by the luminous and wonderful actress Maria Schell who gives a brilliant performance.
It is a complex role and Schell shows us the many layers of this simple strong decent woman as she deals with her poor life among the the dejected and miserable people who inhabit her life and indeed her world of Paris in the 1860's.
The men or monsters in her life include a no good lover who leaves her and her two young boys from him at the start of the story and reappears later in the film to wreck more havoc on her life and her children.
Later on she meets an alcoholic roofer a good natured lug who is also sometimes lousy and marries him with the hope of happiness which never comes. Another child is born, this time a girl Nana. Gervaise is good natured and can also be a fighter when necessary and this is shown in a long time feud with Suzy Delair, who began her career in music halls and vaudeville and brings this biographical touch to the role. One of the memorable scenes is a knock down drag out fight in the laundry where they both work and ends with Schell paddling Delair with a washerwoman's battledore on her bare bottom to the amusement of her fellow workers and us.
Quite a scene for 1956 and of course this would never be allowed in American films of the time. Delair will also return later in the film with revenge in her heart to do more harm to Gervaise. Gervaise opens her own laundry and works hard but because of her husband's work injury and his drinking is hard put to make it work and it fails. The politics of the Second Empire with its workers protests and uprisings are also shown in vivid details including a sensitive performance by Jacques Harden as a politically aware blacksmith who also has romantic feelings towards Gervaise.
The film was directed by Rene Clement who had an up and down film career. He directed some classics of French cinema that were rudely referred to as “The tradition of quality” by the young turks of the New Wave who attacked and tore down this tradition in their written criticism of Clement and others and finally by making their own films. Clement is mainly remembered for “Forbidden Games” his 1952 Oscar winner and “Purple Noon”, the best film made from the Patricia Highsmith thriller novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley” that starred Alain Delon at the beginning of his long career. Clement continued his career into the early 70's making a series of unsatisfactory thrillers including “And Hope To Die” “Rider On The Rain” and “The Deadly Trap”, which had international casts but except for “Rider on The Rain” failed with critics and audiences alike.
Gervaise was a critical success getting an Oscar nomination for foreign film and is still highly thought of because of its superb cast and the brilliant recreation of Paris in its sets, costumes and production details by Paul Bertrand along with its lovely black and white cinematography by Robert Juillard. I thought of the paintings of Gustave Caillebotte among many other painters of the period. Clement spends his time well lavishing details and character depth to the leads but also to the smallest role which can be seen in many memorable scenes including a large, long and chaotic birthday dinner that Gervaise throws for herself inviting friends and family to share it with her, and a visit to the Louvre that her and her wedding party make after her marriage to her roofer where they are looked at with disdain by the well attired bourgeoisie passing through the galleries. Since this is Zola don't expect any happy endings to this sad story, which left me reeling with anguish but also with the feeling that I had just seen a masterwork.
