Dora Nelson: A cautionary tale about leaving your life behind

Is it worth your Sunday afternoon?

If you have a thing for vintage melodrama and don't mind a story that feels like it’s being held together by hairpins and sheer willpower, then sure. It's for the folks who like their drama served with a heavy side of 1930s irony. If you’re looking for something that moves fast or has a modern edge, you're going to be checking your watch every ten minutes. Honestly, the whole thing feels a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion, where you know exactly where it's going but you just can't look away from the hats.

Elvire Popesco is basically the whole show. She’s got this way of flicking her wrist that says more than half the dialogue in the script. There’s a scene where she realizes her husband has moved on, and she just sort of stands there looking at a piece of furniture. It’s not flashy, but it works.

The plot moves like a tired horse. You get the classic "famous actress leaves it all behind" trope, but it doesn't take long for the cracks to show. It’s funny, in a bleak kind of way, how quickly her husband replaces her. Like, he didn't even wait for the dust to settle. Suzanne Verdier just slides right into the vacancy. It makes you wonder if anyone in this movie actually likes anyone else, or if they’re just all shuffling seats at a very expensive, very dull dinner party.

I couldn't help but compare the pacing here to something like Dragnet Girl. Where that film feels sharp and cold, Dora Nelson feels like it’s draped in too much velvet. It’s heavy. It’s got that specific 1930s French cinema perfume where everything is slightly tragic but also somehow very posh.

Odd little things I noticed:

• The background extras in the party scene look like they were told to look busy but were actually just waiting for the craft services table to open.
• The lighting in the bedroom scene is so aggressive it makes everyone look like they’ve aged five years in ten minutes.
• There is a dog in one shot that absolutely refuses to look at the camera. He’s the most authentic actor in the room.

There’s this moment where Dora thinks she’s winning. She’s got the look of someone who thinks she’s still the main character. But the movie doesn't let her have it. It’s actually kind of mean-spirited. I liked that. It’s refreshing when a film doesn't try to make its lead likable.

If you're a fan of old-school character studies, you might find some charm here. It's not a masterpiece, but it's got a pulse. Sometimes that's enough. And hey, at least the dialogue isn't as stiff as in The Case of the Howling Dog. At least these people are actually yelling at each other, which is a nice change of pace.

Don't expect to be changed by it. It’s just a story about a woman who finds out she’s replaceable. We’ve all been there, right? Maybe not with the fame and the Italian affairs, but definitely the feeling of walking into a room and realizing you weren't missed. 💅