Gervaise Film Still

Gervaise

René Clément

France

1956

117 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

French

Synopsis

One of France’s most respected directors of the postwar era, René Clément created such intense psychological dramas as Forbidden Games and Purple Noon. The equally gripping Gervaise, his vivid adaptation of Émile Zola’s 1877 masterpiece L’assommoir, is an uncompromising depiction of a laundress’s struggles with an alcoholic husband while running her own business. Gervaise was nominated for an Oscar and earned Maria Schell best actress honors at the Venice Film Festival.

Cast

Gervaise MacquartMaria Schell
Henri CoupeauFrançois Périer
VirginieSuzy Delair
Mme. LorilleauxJany Holt
Mme. BocheMathilde Casadesus
Maman CoupeauFlorelle
GougetJacques Harden
LantierArmand Mestral

Credits

DirectorRené Clément
ProducerAnnie Dorfmann
Based on The Dram Shop byÉmile Zola
Adaptation and dialogue byJean Aurenche and Pierre Bost
CinematographyRobert Juillard
SetsPaul Bertrand
EditingHenri Rust
SoundAntoine Archimbaud
WardrobeMayo

From the Current

Gervaise: True Grit

by Michael Koresky Sep 18, 2009

Director René Clément had conveyed the darker aspects of human nature in 1952’s heartbreaking Forbidden Games, which became an international, award-winning . . .

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