This is Her Four-Leafed Clover
DIRECTED BY GEORGES LACOMBE/FRENCH/1946
DVD STREET DATE: April 18, 2023/ICARUS FILMS
He’s a cad, she’s a tramp. Or vice versa. He’s respectable, she’s successful. Or, vice versa. He’s Jean Gabin, she’s Marlene Dietrich. Definitely not vice versa.
It’s 1946 in a quiet provincial French village when these two screen legends convene on film for the first and only time. Sometimes referred to as “The Room Upstairs” and an adaptation of Pierre-René Wolf‘s 1935 novel of the same title, director George Lacombe’s Martin Roumagnac starts off as alluring if also deceptively lackadaisical. Gabin plays Martin, an established building contractor in search of what’s next- in more ways than one. Dietrich plays Blanche Ferrand, a restless widow from Australia who’s currently a seller of pet birds.
Many synopses of this film refer to her character as a “femme fatale”, but that isn’t quite right. Sure, she’s a bit prone to using her intense allure to reel in her pick of the ever-courting litter, but can a gal help it if every man that sees her immediately falls in love with her? When she chooses Martin, is she being authentic or simply trying to get a new house out of him? Were this a Hollywood production of this era, the answer to that would be far more predictable. This, though, is a French production (in the French language, no less), where major movie star vehicles such as this have never been nearly as safety tested.
Even before dark tensions take over the story, Martin Roumagnac ambles blissfully from one Martin and Blanche sexual hookup to another. (Even in 1946 France, the camera tastefully pans away- but to a pile of hay and a rhythmically banging barn door. A little bit of the Lubitsch touch, sans Lubitsch). Lacombe’s directorial style is tricker than one might suspect at a simple glance. But even viewers only familiar with Dietrich’s Hollywood output ought to know that a simple glance is never sufficient to fully size up her characters.
Notably, Blanche routinely adorns her elegant yet racy outfits with a silver four-leafed clover broach. More than once, it opts for the nearby floor rather than her blouse. To her, the clover represents luck, but to Martin, its being made of silver makes it bad luck. Both or neither can be just as true as one or the other, and Lacombe seems to understand that, as the characters’ shifting fortunes run the gamut… and this piece of jewelry always seems to be nearby. Then something happens and she’s head over heels. This is her four-leafed clover.
Icarus Films has released Martin Roumagnac on Blu-ray, which is a most welcome upgrade for this immersive drama. This review, however, covers the label’s initial release of it, on DVD. Even in standard definition, Gabin and Dietrich blaze accordingly and look rightly sharp.