This black and white adaptation of Zola's Gervaise is extremely well-acted and filled with pathos. From the gaiety of the early scenes, the audience is drawn into Gervaise's downward spiral and struggle in an impoverished, uncaring society.The cinematography conveys a sense of bleakness as do the costumes and settings. However, pacing is a problem. Whilst the most cinematographic sequence in the film (the fight between the women) occurs at the outset and gives the narrative a fast-paced introduction, the tempo slows a little too much during later portions.The sequence of the fall from the roof is also poorly-executed and appears more like slapstick comedy than tragedy.Aside from these two scenes, there is little action, so at times the film feels a little too much like a stage play. The cinematography is quite static as well which works well in some scenes but not in others. There are few close-ups to convey the characters thoughts and far too much middle-distance filming which distances the viewers from the action.Although it has its flaws, this is still a more effective attempt to capture Zola's work on film than the previous year's version of Nana.

Maria Schell plays the titular character in this film adaptation of Emile Zola's novel L'Assomoir. This is like the saddest movie ever. I seriously wept for twenty minutes after it finished, and every time I think of it I start to tear up again. Schell plays a poor washerwoman with little luck in men. Her first man, who never married her, leaves her with two young boys for another woman. Her next man, her first husband (played by Francois Perier), becomes a slave to wine, chronically unemployed and defying his wife and family at every turn for another drink. Sure, this is your typical suffering woman narrative, but, Hell, women have suffered throughout history, and this is a downright powerful story. The characterizations are very complex, and every actor in the film is absolutely perfect. L'Assomoir came in the middle of a cycle of twenty novels. Gervaise's daughter, Nana, was the focus of a later novel in the series (Jean Renoir adapted that novel, called Nana, in 1926).

Why Maria Schell?If you have read Zola's masterpiece -"l'assommoir" the seventh of the Rougon Macquart saga,and one of the finest, surpassed only by "Germinal"- ,you wonder why Clement chose her when the part was tailor made for Simone Signoret.On the other hand ,Suzy Delair was the ideal Virginie Poisson,hypocrite venomous and vile .They say her buttocks were "dubbed" (by Liliane Montevecchi's) during the famous scene of the spanking ! René Clément did a good job even if his adaptation seemed sometimes tame and timid .Zola's depictions are so intense that it's hard to transfer them to the screen.But the " fête de Gervaise " ,with the gargantuan meal comes close to fully recreate it,and it was not easy since in the book it spreads over about twenty pages.Despise some reservations,this is an unqualified must for good cinema lovers.

This is one of the best movie I've ever seen. Maria Schell is beautiful and hearthbreaking.I am not surprised it won the best foreign film of 1956. Suzy Delair is terrific and Francois Perier is superb. I will never forget this movie. It touched me deeply.