An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was directed by Jean Renoir and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it’s only afterwards that I discovered that it was only Renoir’s 2^nd directorial effort. Back then, he was still making some silent movies and it was something quite ambitious for someone who just started to direct. Still, to be honest, I have to admit that I really struggled to care about the damned thing though and the main issue I had was that the damned thing was just so long. Seriously, there is no way that this story required almost 3 hrs of running time and I wonder if the book written by Emile Zola worked better. At least, there is no denying that Nana was indeed quite a character. Indeed, even though she was quite vulgar, not really gorgeous and had no real talent, yet, I could see why all these men would be attracted to her. Eventually, it was an interesting balancing act from Catherine Hessling who must have had a lot of fun with this character. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I really cared about this character and the fact that the other characters were even less interesting probably didn’t help. That’s another thing that bothered me, the fact that the whole thing felt rather misogynistic. Indeed, if you would believe this movie, all this men were actually innocent as they were all under the spell of this evil devious woman. I wonder how this movie would have been received if it was released nowadays following the #Metoo movement. Anyway, to conclude, even if I think it was a minor effort from the French master, I still think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Jean Renoir’s work.