''Nana, the True Key of Pleasure'' () is a 1983 English-language Italian
comedy drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film directed by
Dan Wolman, loosely based on
Émile Zola's 1880 novel ''
Nana''.
The music is by
Ennio Morricone. The film was produced by
Yoram Globus and
Menahem Golan.
Plot
Winsome Nana performs as an attraction in the magic show of Mellies the magician at the Minotaure, including in erotic
shadow play and "moving photographs". She afterwards puts in work as a prostitute. Zoe acts as her confidante and
chambermaid. Many rich and influential men are besotted by Nana's youthful beauty and want to make her their own. The banker Steiner buys her a house, but she soon throws him out and uses it to pursue her business.
At one point, Nana hosts an erotic hunt for her guests, who can watch through looking glasses a real-life pornographic show unfold itself before their eyes. She also engages in a
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
encounter with Satin, one of the female customers at the Minotaure. Count Muffat as well as his son Hector are equally besotted by Nana. When she is introduced to the prizefighter Bijou, she gets Muffat to sponsor him; Bijou is killed in a fight to the death, the count is ruined, and eventually, he and his family are evicted from their residence by Steiner the banker who has rigged the fight.
When Muffat complains to Nana about his ruin, she reveals to him that his wife has been cheating on him with Faucherie, an intrigue which she has previously arranged, and the men fight each other in a duel. Nana then ruins the wedding of young Hector Muffat when she elopes with him in a horse-drawn carriage. Eventually, however, there is honour among thieves: Muffat becomes minister of the interior, sponsored by Faucherie, and Nana leaves in a hot air balloon for India to meditate - taking yet another beau along for the ride.
Cast
*
Katya Berger as Nana
*
Shirin Taylor as Zoe, Nana's maid
*
Jean-Pierre Aumont as comte de Muffat (count Muffat)
*
Mandy Rice-Davies as Sabine, comtesse de Muffat
* Marcus Beresford as Hector Muffat
* Yehuda Efroni as Steiner, the banker
*
Massimo Serato as Faucherie, journalist for Le Figaro
*
Annie Belle as Rennée de Chéselles, fiancée of Hector
*
Debra Berger as Satin
*
Paul Muller as Xavier
*
Tom Felleghy as Mellies the magician
References
External links
*
*
1983 films
1983 comedy-drama films
1983 LGBTQ-related films
Italian comedy-drama films
Films scored by Ennio Morricone
Films based on Nana (novel)
Golan-Globus films
English-language Italian films
Cockfighting in film
Films produced by Menahem Golan
Films set in Paris
Films set in the 1880s
Films about adultery in France
Films about prostitution in France
Lesbian-related films
Films produced by Yoram Globus
1980s Italian films
Italian LGBTQ-related films
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