在这部酒店剧情片中,改编自法国著名作家左拉的同名文学名著《小酒店》，本片被认为是最佳版本。让·雷诺阿拍摄的《娜娜》系本片的续集。故事讲述一个女人在被情人抛弃后去做洗衣妇独自抚养两个孩子，后来他和一个老实的工人结婚，又生下一女，丈夫不幸摔断腿，在家休养；她在用完积蓄后开了一家小店维持生计。当初遗弃她的老情人又来找她，并促使她丈夫酗酒；不久后丈夫染上酒瘾，老情人又在家白吃白喝，她辛苦工作仍然无法支付这些人的开支，结果他们竟然也怂恿她也一起来借酒浇愁。于是被酒精弄得家破人亡……本片忠实于左拉的原著，充满了对现实生活的控诉和下层人民悲惨的命运的同情。
Gervaise Macquart, a young lame laundress, is left by her lover Auguste Lantier with two boys... She manages to make it, and a few years later she marries Coupeau, a roofer. After working very hard a few more years, she succeeds in buying her own laundry (her dream)... But Coupeau starts to drink after having fallen from a roof, and Lantier shows up... A faithful adaptation of Emile Zola's novel "L'Assomoir", depicting the fatal degeneration of a family of workers, mainly because of alcohol.
生活总比想象来得更彻底。
