Word: delair
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...supporting cast, headed by Francois Perier as the shiftless husband and Suzy Delair as Gervaise's scheming enemy, is impeccable, and M. Clement's direction achieves its effects brilliantly. In term of motion picture artistry. Gervaise constitutes a nearly perfect effort (although the Brattle's projection technique leaves something to be desired.) Clement's slight humorous touches (which are almost forgotten in the depression of the climax) are masterstrokes: a beggar quietly switching his sign from "Aveugle" to "Sourd et Buet," the ridiculously bad singing of a guest at Gervaise's birthday party...
...while Clement introduces his humor with admirable subtlety, he plays his horror with brutal directness. Such scenes as the washing-house fight between Gervaise and her rival (where Miss Schell tears an earring out through Miss Delair's bleeding earlobe) and the bedroom where M. Perier has vomited the results of an all-day drinking spree--photographed in careful detail--are moments the viewer would like to, but cannot, forget...
...Brattle's latest Gallic import is unaffectedly gay, fresh, witty, and delightful without a single existential, soul-searching or morbid note. Fernandel is in his very best and unhackneyed form and Suzy Delair as his slightly dumpy but not unattractive wife is fully his match...