Le Rosier de Madame Husson (1932)
Directed by Dominique Bernard-Deschamps

Film Review

Although he had already appeared in four films, most notably Jean Renoir's On purge bébé (1931), Fernandel's screen career didn't really begin until Le Rosier de Madame Husson, a surprisingly raunchy adaptation of a Guy de Maupassant short story which made him an overnight star in France.  This was one of the last films to be directed by Dominique Bernard-Deschamps, whose eccentric comedies include the marvellously unhinged Monsieur Coccinelle (1938).  So successful was the film that its director engaged the services of writers Louis Verneuil and Jean Manse to turn it into a theatrical operetta, with Fernandel reprising the role of Isidor on stage in 1937.  Not only did the 1932 film set Fernandel up to become a highly sought after comic actor, it also established him as one of the decade's most popular chansonniers.
 
Le Rosier de Madame Husson introduces a convention that would be adopted by many of Fernandel's early films, namely the inclusion of several narrative breaks where the star would burst into song for no apparent reason other than to satisfy the public demand for filmed operetta.  Bernard-Deschamps's film is generous in this respect, offering new fewer than five musical numbers: 'Un homme', 'L'amour est un mystère', 'Quand ça m'prend', 'Si j'osais' and, the most famous, 'Maintenant, je sais ce que c'est'.  The lyrics for most of these songs were written by Jean Boyer, who would direct a hugely successful remake of the film two decades later, with comic star Bourvil taking the title role and Marcel Pagnol supplying the screenplay.

Cast in the role of the hyper-prim Madame Husson is a characteristically matriarchal Françoise Rosay, one of the most venerated French actresses of her generation - a reputation she acquired through her subsequent collaborations with her director-husband Jacques Feyder on such sublime films as Le Grand Jeu (1934) and La Kermesse héroïque (1935).  Rosay wasn't only a great dramatic actress she also had an immense flair for comedy, as this film amply demonstrates - her reaction at the end of the film when Fernandel dares to kiss her on the mouth is priceless.  As the hopeless leader of the fire brigade (an ensemble of misfits you would most likely expect to find in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta), Marcel Carpentier comes close to stealing the film, helped by his uncanny resemblance to another comedy legend of the time, Oliver Hardy.

And who better to play the smouldering seductress who deflowers an unsuspecting Fernandel than Colette Darfeuil, an actress of virtually unrivalled charisma and sex appeal?  Darfeuil's sultry presence somehow manages to turn this mild comedy of manners into what, at the time, counted for pretty blatant erotica.  You don't have to strain your imagination too hard to see what is happening in the bedroom as the camera pans innocently across the discarded items of clothing.  Earlier in the film, the story's saucy subtext is mined for as much humour as it can bear in the sequence in which Fernandel is subjected to the overtly libidinous intentions of an entourage of female admirers.  Not understanding why the women around him are holding him in their lustful gaze, mentally undressing him as they lick their lips, poor Isidore does his best to hide his crippling gaucheness, but he merely ends up looking like a lamb in an arena stuffed with half-starved lions.

Ably assisted by his cinematographer Nicolas Farkas, director Bernard-Deschamps manages to overcome the static limitations of sound cinema at this time by punctuating the scripted narrative with long silent passages with a suitably lyrical musical accompaniment.  The use of long tracking shots, where the camera glides effortlessly through a window, takes us into interior rooms and slowly moves through 360 degrees, give the film a surprising depth of field and fluidity, setting it apart from most typical French comedies of the époque.  Given the quality of this film, it's surprising that Bernard-Deschamps didn't make more of a name for himself than he did, although he did have a hand in the creation of Cinemascope, through his widescreen experimentations with the inventor Henri Chrétien.

Film Synopsis

Madame Husson, the most respected personage in a small Normandy town, has resolved to arrest the moral decline in her community.  To that end, she has inaugurated a custom whereby each year a young woman of irrefutable chastity is crowned 'rosière' to honour her virginity.  Alas, this year no person of the fair sex is deemed worthy of this accolade, so rather than postpone the ceremony Madame Husson is persuaded to reward a pure young man instead.  The man chosen to become 'rosier' is Isidore Pastouret, a carefree simpleton who is a complete stranger to the ways of love.  At the grand banquet organised in his honour, Isidore is presented with 500 francs and invited to take part in the boisterous festivities.

Within minutes the freely flowing champagne goes to Isidore's head and he is soon on his way to Paris to spend his generous windfall.  He enters a lively cabaret and becomes easy prey for a highly seductive hostess named Carmen.  The young innocent allows himself to be taken to a bedroom, where he is soon relieved of both his money and his virtue.  News of Isidor's absence soon spreads around his hometown and the leader of the town's fire brigade is tasked with recovering him.  When Isidor returns home a few days later, he is a changed man.  Madame Husson is taken by surprise when the supposed symbol of male chastity comes up to her and plants an over-affectionate kiss on her mouth.