Nana (1926)

An ambitious but beautiful young actress (Catherine Hessling) is the toast of Paris despite having no discernible talent. But after playing a leading role in a play that is a huge flop, she becomes a notorious courtesan instead. Based on the novel by Emile Zola and directed by Jean Renoir in his second feature film. There have been over ten adaptations of Zola's novel in film, television and opera. Renoir's was the first adaptation and it's sumptuous in its detail. Hessling (Renoir's wife at the time) is very good as the shallow self centered title heroine. But pushing the three hour mark, Renoir's movie is unnecessarily overlong. I've nothing against leisurely storytelling but he dwells too long on most scenes which add nothing to the film. It could easily have been cut by 20 minutes. As to the film itself, there's a touch of CAMILLE and LES LIAISON DANGERUSES as Hessling's Nana manipulates and discards lovers until death and destruction bring her crashing to her fate. The ending is more ambiguous than the novel's as it gives a possible redemption to Nana. With Werner Krauss, Jean Angelo, Raymond Guerin Catelain, Jacqueline Forzane and Claude Autant Lara (yes, the director).