Martin Roumagnac

Martin Roumagnac is a popular building contractor who is liked by ordinary townspeople. He lives with his sister in a modest shack and is quietly building a villa on a plot he has bought. His steady, unglamorous life sets up the contrast with Blanche's arrival.

Blanche Ferrand arrives in the town with her uncle, an exotic widow who has just set her sights on new wealth and status. She harbors designs on Laubry, a retired diplomat with a dying wife, while entertaining a discreet lover. Her presence unsettles the local social order.

One evening Blanche goes to a boxing match and sits beside Martin, whose ebullient charm draws her in. The encounter quickly deepens into a passionate affair. The spark threatens to upend both their worlds.

As their relationship grows, Martin completes the villa and gives it to Blanche, effectively sacrificing its capital value and jeopardizing his financial standing. Blanche enjoys the gesture but privately remains aware of his rough edges. The act marks a turning point where love eclipses practicality.

In public, Blanche finds Martin's simple tastes embarrassing—he drinks Pernod and smokes Gauloises—while she dreams of Paris and sophistication. He struggles to understand her worldliness, though their love remains strong in private. The mismatch foreshadows looming tragedy.

Martin's obsession with Blanche strains his business, and cash grows tight. Town gossip twists their affair into a social scandal, and even his friends and family mock him. The once supportive community begins to erode his reputation.

Laubry's wife dies, and Blanche contemplates a profitable alliance with him that would let her have lovers at will. However, Laubry's condition is that she must break with Martin, not because he cares about fidelity but because his lower status would stain their circles. The courtship becomes a battleground of class.

Blanche rejects the deputy mayor who offers to boost Martin's prospects, preferring to 'go it alone' with Laubry's money and standing. She then sells the seed-and-grain shop and resolves to leave the town forever. This marks her final severance from the village and its judgments.

Unaware of Blanche's decision, Martin goes to the villa to confront her, convinced she will marry the consul. Blanche is too proud to tell the truth and refuses to acknowledge the real situation. The two lovers' world unravels in a single, heated moment.

In a fit of rage, Martin strangles Blanche and the villa is set alight, destroying all evidence of the crime. The fire rages as he stands over the aftermath in shock. He confesses only later, trying to salvage some meaning from the tragedy.

His sister helps set an alibi by enlisting the postman as a witness, manipulating the clock to show Martin was having lunch during the crime. The plan buys time and creates doubt about the prosecution. It demonstrates how far the family will go to shield him.

During the trial, Blanche's uncle—actually a former lover and mentor—emerges to defend her, and his testimony condemns the slander around Martin's anger. He reveals Blanche's long history with many men and explains her rejection of the consul was driven by snobbery. Martin protests, but the emotional blow lands and reshapes the case.

The jury clears Martin unanimously and he returns home to a party organized by his sister, whose perjury was believed. He experiences a hollow victory as he realizes the social machine's power over truth. The town's whispers linger even as he is free.

In the shadows, a rebuffed schoolteacher, who has watched the trial, glances at a young man in the barn holding a gun. Martin, aware of the danger, turns his back to the gunman at the open window, smoking his last Gauloise as fate closes in. The film leaves the outcome to the viewer's interpretation.