Nana: Le désir

I'm into finding more obscure/less mainstream films to watch but this one didn't do it for me and the young age of the lead actress was already a red flag. But the fact that there's real-life incest of sorts that's glossed over shocks me even more so. Never watching this again.

Nana (1982) was an "erotic" film that was loosely based upon the Emile Zola novel. I saw this film when I was in high school on pay cable during the late 80's. There was only a couple of scenes that made the movie enjoyable. The rest was pretty lame, tame and filler. I have to warn you that the movie is pretty "Euro" and some people will be turned off by the "realism" of the way women are shown in this movie. But if you love the "au natural" look, then you'll be in heaven.

Today this film is pretty hard to find. I don't think that their was a strong demand for this film on video. But seriously, I wouldn't go out of my way searching for a copy.

Okay, not thrilling. Just okay.

Very saucy, yes. Very sexy, yes. Very erotic, yes. Memorable, no. Berger is fascinating, beautiful, as is her character, innocent, scheming, the latest main attraction, at an upscale bordello, or a more refined title, house of ill repute, where every night, old wealthy men and women of high standing, relax and gawk at the young lovelies, enjoying the night show, before bedding the woman of their choice. Men or women who meet our erotic beauty, Nana, can't get her out of their head, where she moves higher up the ladder, leaving the bordello, using her mesmerizing beauty to her advantage. Intriguing and definitely a worthwhile watch, with some whimsical comedy too, Nana stands alone, as a well made periodic piece, with a lot of skin to ogle at, but again, it's just an exploitative sex drama, hiding under a respectable facade. Entertainment alone, that's not a bad thing.

Usually I don't review anything I haven't watched in its entirety, but it was 2 at night, half an hour still to go, and I was certain that I would not miss anything of value by going to sleep. (Was anything produced by Golan and Globus ever of value?) There are two major problems in this film. First is the plot: too many scenes are individual sketches that don't connect to anything. Not that this is a surprise in softcore porn... The second, and worse, problem is Katya Berger. She is supposed to bewitch every man in the film but I totally fail to see how. All I saw was a little girl with zero acting abilities, not even that pretty. OK, the green eyes are cute in close-up, but several other women in the film are far better-looking.

Nothing else is too convincing either. What seemed interesting at first was the presence of the legendary Georges Méliès as a character. There, too, is a dual problem: the two examples of his films do not look like genuine films of the era, and they have none of the inventiveness that was his trademark.

Katya's gorgeous body is on display in this film, along with a lot of other naked beauties. She also has captivating eyes. The nudity should be enough for any straight male, but it's entertaining and engaging even if it wasn't packed with nudity. Fun story, better than a lot of Cannon films.

Nana is an actress who puts on nude shows along with a lot of other women for a crowd, sometime around the turn of the century. Nice costumes, sets and the acting isn't bad. Katya's beauty, however, steals the show.

This film should really be on blu-ray.