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(out of 5)
Maria Schell is outstanding as Emile Zola’s heroine, determined to do well in life despite always being at the mercy of the heartless men in her life. She has two children with her common-law husband and is devastated when he leaves her to run off with a woman of ill repute. Shen then marries François Périer and builds herself up a tidy little laundry business, then watches it all decline after her husband’s workplace accident turns him into an itinerant alcoholic. Fantastic sequences (an amazing fight between Schell and Suzy Delair as a scheming neighbor, a rich dinner sequence, the exciting, tragic conclusion) are combined with gritty commentary on morality and economics that make a perfect concoction, a film that gets your heart and mind racing in tandem. At its centre is its strength, however, as Schell performs with such intensely sympathetic vulnerability, her bright eyes steely and terrified at the same time.
Agnes Delahaie Productions, Silver Films, Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique
France, 1956
Directed by Rene Clement
Screenplay by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, based on the novel L’Assommoir by Emile Zola
Cinematography by Robert Juillard
Produced by Agnes Delahaie
Music by Georges Auric
Production Design by Paul Bertrand
Costume Design by Mayo
Film Editing by Henri Rust
