Eugénie Nau

Comtesse Della Gentia and her lover Paul attempt to seduce and blackmail a rich neighbour Juan, who is in love with a naïve young friend of theirs, Clarisse. Their plot fails; the Comtesse kills herself at a ball, and her lover re-covers her face with its mask.

In the lands of Brière a bitter dispute broke out over the draining of marshes for brick making. An old man, Aoustin, leads the resistance and refuses to give the hand of his daughter Théotiste to a young peasant, Jeannin, who supports it.

Everyman Coupeau's attempts to stop drinking are routinely thwarted by the wicked and vengeful Virginie. Based on Zola's novel, Capellani's film is about the free fall of a group of working-class French folk into degradation and tragedy due to carelessness, jealousy, and alcohol abuse. At the time of its release, L'Assommoir was hugely successful.

About the conflict between social classes through the life of the unhappy Catherine Ferrand, an orphan girl, who is a victim of the jealousy of women and the greed of men.