Film

Naná

Name: Naná
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance
Released: 1985
Cast: Irma Serrano, Verónica Castro, Isela Vega, Gregorio Casal, Manuel Ojeda

Other titles called Naná: the 1926 film, the 2005 film, the 2006 series (NTV).

Period drama

A Mexican musical melodrama adaptation of Zola's scandalous novel about a courtesan's rise and fall in 19th-century Paris. Irma Serrano dominates with cabaret performances woven through the narrative. It's a lush, theatrical affair—operatic rather than naturalistic—where the music matters as much as the story. For viewers who want their moral decay delivered with orchestration and sequins.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a melodramatic, sensual retelling of a Zola novel where the singing numbers and bold stage presence carry as much weight as the plot, and you like your romance with a theatrical edge.

Skip it if you want a faithful, restrained literary adaptation, since this 1985 version leans into flamboyant performance and music over the novel's social observation and naturalistic detail.

What it asks of you: It runs about an hour and forty minutes and settles into a steady, indulgent rhythm, with musical interludes breaking up the drama, so it rewards a viewer willing to go along with its exaggerated tone.

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