NANA, THE TRUE KEY OF PLEASURE

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 encounter with Satin, one of the female customers at the Minotaure. Count Muffat and 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.

After orchestrating the downfall of her many admirers, Nana leaves Paris in a hot air balloon bound for India, taking a new lover with her while Count Muffat attains a government post and her former associates are ruined.

The ending sees Nana transcending the confines of Parisian society, leaving behind a trail of personal and financial ruin among her lovers. Her departure by hot air balloon—a flourish of silent-era whimsy—underscores her untameable nature and the fleeting, destructive allure she has over those drawn to her. The film concludes not with moral retribution but with Nana's continued pursuit of pleasure and novelty, while the men left behind contend with the consequences of their obsession.