Gervaise
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	René Clément
Screenplay by	Jean Aurenche Pierre Bost
Based on	L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
Produced by	Agnès Delahaie
Starring	Maria Schell François Périer Jany Holt
Cinematography	Robert Juillard
Edited by	Henri Rust
Music by	Georges Auric
Distributed by	Les Films Corona
Release dates	3 August 1956 (1956-08-03) (West Germany) 5 September 1956 (1956-09-05) (France)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

Gervaise [ʒɛʁ.vɛz] is a 1956 French film directed by René Clément based on the 1877 novel L'Assommoir by Émile Zola. It depicts a working-class woman in the mid-nineteenth century (played by Maria Schell) trying to cope with the descent of her husband (played by François Périer) into alcoholism. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 29th Academy Awards.^[1] Schell won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 1956 Venice Film Festival for her performance; Périer won the 1957 BAFTA Best Actor for his performance; and the film itself won the 1957 BAFTA Best Film award.

Cast

Maria Schell: Gervaise Macquart Coupeau, a patient and courageous laundrywoman
François Périer: Coupeau, Gervaise's husband, a roofer
Suzy Delair: Virginie Poisson, an old rival who hates Gervaise
Armand Mestral: Lantier, Gervaise's former lover
Jany Holt: Mme Lorilleux, Coupeau's ill-tempered sister
Mathilde Casadesus: Mme Boche, the concierge
Florelle: Maman Coupeau, Coupeau's aged mother
Micheline Luccioni: Clémence, a laundrywoman who works with Gervaise
Lucien Hubert: Monsieur Poisson, a policeman and Virginie's husband
Jacques Harden: Goujet, a smith, a friend of Coupeau and Gervaise's
Jacques Hilling: Monsieur Boche, the concierge's husband
Hélène Tossy: Mme Bijard
Amédée: Mes Bottes, Coupeau's drinking buddy
Hubert de Lapparent (as Hubert Lapparent): Monsieur Lorilleux, a chainmaker, Mme Lorilleux' long-suffering husband
Rachel Devirys: Mme Fauconnier
Jacqueline Morane: Mme Gaudron
Yvonne Claudie: Mme Putois
Georges Paulais: Father Bru
Gérard Darrieu: Charles, laundry worker
Pierre Duverger: Monsieur Gaudron
Marcelle Féry: Laundry owner
Denise Péronne: a laundrywoman
Simone Duhart: a fishmonger
André Wasley: Father Colombe
Ariane Lancell: Adèle
Aram Stéphan: the mayor
Georges Peignot: Monsieur Madinier
Max Elbèze: Zidore
Jean Relet: Sergent de ville (policeman)
Roger Dalphin: worker
Armand Lurville: presiding officer at hearing
Jean Gautrat: Bec Salé
Christian Denhez: Étienne, Gervaise and Lantier's younger son, at the age of 8
Christian Férez: Étienne at the age of 13
Patrice Catineaud: Claude, Gervaise and Lantier's elder son, at the age of 6
Chantal Gozzi: Nana, Gervaise and Coupeau's daughter, at the age of 5
Michèle Caillaud: Lalie
Gilbert Sanjakian: the Boches' son at the age of 6
Yvette Cuvelier: Augustine, apprentice at the laundry, at the age of 13
Paul Préboist: member of the audience at the cabaret
Jacques Bertrand: factory foreman

Reception

Gervaise has an approval rating of 80% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 5 reviews, and an average rating of 7.5/10.^[2]

References

External links

Films directed by René Clément

The Battle of the Rails (1946)
Mr. Orchid (1946)
The Damned (1947)
The Walls of Malapaga (1949)
The Glass Castle (1950)
Forbidden Games (1952)
Knave of Hearts (1954)
Gervaise (1956)
This Angry Age (1958)
Purple Noon (1960)
The Joy of Living (1961)
The Day and the Hour (1963)
Joy House (1964)
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
Rider on the Rain (1969)
The Deadly Trap (1971)
And Hope to Die (1972)
Wanted: Babysitter (1975)

Awards for Gervaise

Awards for Gervaise

BAFTA Award for Best Film

Best Film
from Any Source
1947–1967

The Best Years of Our Lives (1947)
Hamlet (1948)
Bicycle Thieves (1949)
All About Eve (1950)
La Ronde (1951)
The Sound Barrier (1952)
Forbidden Games (1953)
The Wages of Fear (1954)
Richard III (1955)
Gervaise (1956)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Room at the Top (1958)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Apartment (1960)
Ballad of a Soldier (1961)
The Hustler (1961)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Tom Jones (1963)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
My Fair Lady (1965)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
A Man for All Seasons (1967)

Best Film
1968–present

The Graduate (1968)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1970)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
Cabaret (1972)
Day for Night (1973)
Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976)
Annie Hall (1977)
Julia (1978)
Manhattan (1979)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Gandhi (1982)
Educating Rita (1983)
The Killing Fields (1984)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
A Room with a View (1986)
Jean de Florette (1987)
The Last Emperor (1988)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Commitments (1991)
Howards End (1992)
Schindler's List (1993)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
The English Patient (1996)
The Full Monty (1997)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
American Beauty (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Pianist (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Aviator (2004)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
The Queen (2006)
Atonement (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The Hurt Locker (2009)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Artist (2011)
Argo (2012)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Boyhood (2014)
The Revenant (2015)
La La Land (2016)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Roma (2018)
1917 (2019)
Nomadland (2020)
The Power of the Dog (2021)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Blue Ribbon Award for Best Foreign Film

Sunset Boulevard (1951)
Monsieur Verdoux (1952)
Forbidden Games (1953)
The Wages of Fear (1954)
East of Eden (1955)
Gervaise (1956)
La Strada (1957)
The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
12 Angry Men (1959)
On the Beach (1960)
Two Women (1961)
The Grapes of Wrath (1962)
Sundays and Cybele (1963)
Lilies of the Field (1964)
Mary Poppins (1965)
A Man and a Woman (1966)
Lenny (1975)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Rocky (1977)
Conversation Piece (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1979)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1980)
The Tin Drum (1981)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Flashdance (1983)
The Right Stuff (1984)
Witness (1985)
The Color Purple (1986)
The Untouchables (1987)
Wings of Desire (1988)
Die Hard (1989)
Field of Dreams (1990)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
JFK (1992)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Seven (1996)
Titanic (1997)
L.A. Confidential (1998)
Life Is Beautiful (1999)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Joint Security Area (2001)
Shaolin Soccer (2002)
Infernal Affairs (2003)
Mystic River (2004)
Million Dollar Baby (2005)
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Dreamgirls (2007)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Gran Torino (2009)
District 9 (2010)
Black Swan (2011)
Les Misérables (2012)
Gravity (2013)
Jersey Boys (2014)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Rogue One (2016)
Hidden Figures (2017)
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Joker (2019)
Parasite (2020)
No Time to Die (2021)
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

v t e New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1937–1977	Mayerling (1937) Grand Illusion (1938) Harvest (1939) The Baker's Wife (1940) No Award (1941–1945) Rome, Open City (1946) To Live in Peace (1947) Paisan (1948) Bicycle Thieves (1949) L'Amore (1950) Miracle in Milan (1951) Forbidden Games (1952) Justice Is Done (1953) Gate of Hell (1954) Umberto D. (1955) The Road (1956) Gervaise (1957) My Uncle (1958) The 400 Blows (1959) Hiroshima My Love (1960) The Sweet Life (1961) No Award (1962) 8½ (1963) That Man from Rio (1964) Juliet of the Spirits (1965) The Shop on Main Street (1966) The War Is Over (1967) War and Peace (1968) No Award (1969–1977)
1978–2000	Bread and Chocolate (1978) The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1979) My American Uncle (1980) Pixote (1981) Time Stands Still (1982) Fanny and Alexander (1983) A Sunday in the Country (1984) Ran (1985) The Decline of the American Empire (1986) My Life as a Dog (1987) Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) Story of Women (1989) The Nasty Girl (1990) Europa Europa (1991) Raise the Red Lantern (1992) Farewell My Concubine (1993) Three Colours: Red (1994) Wild Reeds (1995) The White Balloon (1996) Ponette (1997) The Celebration (1998) All About My Mother (1999) Yi Yi (2000)
2001–present	In the Mood for Love (2001) And Your Mother Too (2002) City of God (2003) Bad Education (2004) 2046 (2005) Army of Shadows (2006) The Lives of Others (2007) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2008) Summer Hours (2009) Carlos (2010) A Separation (2011) Amour (2012) Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) Ida (2014) Timbuktu (2015) Toni Erdmann (2016) BPM (Beats per Minute) (2017) Cold War (2018) Parasite (2019) Bacurau (2020) The Worst Person in the World (2021) EO (2022) Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

French submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

French submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
1948–1960	Monsieur Vincent (1948) The Walls of Malapaga (1950) Forbidden Games (1952) Gervaise (1956) Gates of Paris (1957) My Uncle (1958) Black Orpheus (1959) La Vérité (1960)
1961–1980	Last Year at Marienbad (1961) Sundays and Cybèle (1962) The Fire Within (1963) The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) Pierrot le Fou (1965) A Man and a Woman (1966) Live for Life (1967) Stolen Kisses (1968) My Night with Maud (1969) Hoa-Binh (1970) Ramparts of Clay (1971) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Day for Night (1973) Lacombe, Lucien (1974) India Song (1975) Cousin, cousine (1976) Madame Rosa (1977) Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978) A Simple Story (1979) The Last Metro (1980)
1981–2000	Diva (1981) Coup de Torchon (1982) Entre Nous (1983) So Long, Stooge (1984) Three Men and a Cradle (1985) Betty Blue (1986) Au revoir les enfants (1987) La Lectrice (1988) Camille Claudel (1989) Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) Van Gogh (1991) Indochine (1992) Germinal (1993) Wild Reeds (1994) French Twist (1995) Ridicule (1996) Western (1997) The Dreamlife of Angels (1998) East/West (1999) The Taste of Others (2000)
2001–present	Amélie (2001) 8 Women (2002) Bon Voyage (2003) The Chorus (2004) Joyeux Noël (2005) Avenue Montaigne (2006) Persepolis (2007) The Class (2008) A Prophet (2009) Of Gods and Men (2010) Declaration of War (2011) The Intouchables (2012) Renoir (2013) Saint Laurent (2014) Mustang (2015) Elle (2016) BPM (Beats per Minute) (2017) Memoir of War (2018) Les Misérables (2019) Two of Us (2020) Titane (2021) Saint Omer (2022) The Taste of Things (2023)

Authority control databases

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	France BnF data

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links