Once upon a time, two iconic European actors fell in love. Marlene Dietrich hailed from the Berlin bourgeoisie, while Jean Gabin came from a show business family in Paris. Despite these very different origins, they both ended up in Hollywood, where they were frequently cast as some variation on those archetypes: Dietrich as the glamorous, almost regal woman who charms every man who crosses her path, Gabin as the working-class lug whose lack of refinement is offset by his incredible charisma.
Their lengthy affair began in 1941, yet it wasn’t until after World War II — during which Gabin served with the Free French Forces and Dietrich performed for Allied troops on the front lines — that their real-life romance finally found its way into theaters. The film was Martin Roumagnac, a tragic romance with considerable noir flavor, adapted from a 1935 novel by Pierre-René Wolf and directed by Georges Lacombe. Yet while the film — soon to be available in a new restoration from Icarus Films — was not a success upon its 1946 release, today it serves as a fitting tribute to these two legendary stars and their love story.
Opposites Attract
Gabin stars as the titular character, a popular building contractor who lives with his sister (Margo Lion) in a small French town. A simple man with unpretentious tastes—he drinks only Pernod and smokes only Gauloises—his ordinary life is turned upside-down when he meets Blanche Ferrand (Dietrich), a glamorous widow who runs a seed shop with her uncle (Jean d’Yd). Naturally, because this is Dietrich, she makes her entrance into the film legs first, her famous limbs slowly descending the spiral staircase that leads from her apartment into the shop below. (Fittingly, one of the film’s alternate titles is The Room Upstairs.)
Martin is instantly smitten with the beautiful and sophisticated Blanche, even going so far as to gift her the villa he has been building. Yet despite the great passion they have for each other behind closed doors, their incredibly different backgrounds cause friction when they are out in public. When the two of them head to Paris to purchase furnishings for the villa, Martin feels out of place in the swanky nightclubs Blanche brings him to; unsure of which fork to use, uncomfortably hot in his borrowed tuxedo, and unable to purchase his Gauloises — the club only carries expensive imported brands — he ends up going outside to get some fresh air. Here, he is much more in his element; as he strikes up a conversation with a chauffeur who gives him a Gauloise, he notes, “We work with our hands… it’s all that’s real.”
The End of the Affair
Naturally, Martin is not the only man who has his eyes on Blanche; a young schoolteacher (Daniel Gélin, whose appearance and performance in this cannot help but remind one of Anthony Perkins) lurks in the shadows, watching her every move, while a wealthy, retired diplomat (Marcel Herrand) hopes to marry her once his current wife dies. As the whispered rumors about her various romantic entanglements grow louder and more mocking, Martin becomes convinced that Blanche will leave him for another, unable to see that despite it all, he is the only man Blanche has ever truly loved.
It might all sound somewhat predictable — femme fatale ruins solid male citizen, with tragic consequences for all involved — but Martin Roumagnac gives all of its characters much more depth and complexity, not to mention class anxiety than that simple description could ever convey. Blanche makes the decisions she does because as an attractive woman in a male-dominated world, her looks are her primary means of survival. Yet her beauty is also a threat, to herself and others, because it leads men to become dangerously obsessed, willing to do anything to possess her.
Is this her fault? Not necessarily, though as the film progresses, Blanche grows increasingly disenchanted not just with the men surrounding her, but with herself as well. Dietrich’s nuanced performance perfectly embodies this emotional exhaustion, as well as the desire for something simpler and more innocent: namely, authentic love. When Martin finally confronts her, convinced that she is on the verge of betraying him, she is too hurt to tell him he is wrong, too proud to admit that she would in fact choose him over all others. And at that point, who can blame her?
Martin Roumagnac is beautifully photographed in atmospheric black and white courtesy of cinematographer Roger Hubert (Children of Paradise, Thérèse Raquin). Unfortunately, the musical score by Marcel Mirouze and Giovanni Fusco is a bit over-the-top, emphasizing the melodramatic aspects of the film’s storyline to a fault. Nonetheless, when Dietrich and Gabin are on screen together, you’ll find it hard to be distracted by anything else. They were both in their forties, with the horrors of war still fresh in their minds, when they shot Martin Roumagnac, yet their chemistry onscreen is that of a young couple still in the throes of love. The two of them glow with an inner warmth in their scenes together; Dietrich, in particular, seems more giddy and girlish than she ever had been before in her career, where her image was generally that of a world-weary woman who had seen it all. She’s that woman in Martin Roumagnac too, but when she looks at Gabin and smiles, the years and the memories melt away, and she could almost be a teenager. And when he looks at her in her lingerie in their Parisian hotel room… well, one is surprised that the film in the camera didn’t catch fire from the sparks flying.
Conclusion:
To watch Dietrich and Gabin together in Martin Roumagnac is to watch two movie stars that, while perhaps no longer quite at the height of their powers, were still more than capable of capturing the imagination of the viewer. That this was the only film they ever made together makes it a must-see for any fan, and a wonderful remembrance of their real-life romance.
The new restoration of Martin Roumagnac will be released on DVD and digital on April 18, 2023.
Watch Martin Roumagnac
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