Emmanuelle
(1974) is based on a very popular erotic book by Emmanuelle
Arsan titled Emmanuelle, the Joys of a Woman, which is said to
be roughly autobiographical. Producer Richard Suzuki decided the
time was ripe for an erotic movie, and hard core (Deep Throat,
Behind the Green Door, The Devil in Miss Jones) was very
popular, but not really fare for mainstream suburban couples. He
visited the book publisher to inquire about screen rights, and
was told that someone held them, but when the secretary checked,
she discovered that the rights had expired two weeks before and
not been renewed. He secured the rights on the spot, and
approached advertising director Just Jaeckin to direct the
project. Casting was a major problem, as French actresses
thought erotic content was beneath them, then ran into Sylvia
Kristel during a casting session, and immediately signed her to
a three picture deal. He said that he was sure she would be
famous, and so signed her for three films.
The picture was shot in Thailand, which was not a huge tourist
destination at the time. The did it with permission of a royal
prince, third in command in the country, but managed to get
themselves arrested once when shooting at a public waterfall. A
crowd gathered, and, when asked to leave, complained to the
police. The rest of the film was shot on the Prince's private
property. Kristel was raised in an orthodox household. When she
approached her mother about the project, her mother said to make
it if it was good for her career, but don't ask her to see it.
In the first sex scene in the film, Kristel and her husband are
having sex under a mosquito net, while the houseboy and a maid
watch. Star Daniel Sarky's wife was visiting the set for that
scene, and he was so nervous performing simulated sex in front
of her that his sweat kept melting his make-up, so it took
forever to film.
When the film was finished, Suzuki was determined that it would
open in a mainstream theater, and it was, in fact, the first X
rated film released by Paramount. They had no idea how much of a
success they had on their hands, and had to expand it to several
screens immediately to accommodate the crowds. The film opened
on a Friday, and they didn't have enough prints to supply all of
the theaters, and no way to make more over the weekend, so they
used staggered start times and a team of messengers on
motorbikes to ferry each reel to the next theater as soon as it
finished in the first one.
The film has been available for some time on home video in a US
dub with very poor quality, first on VHS and then DVD. There was
also a cut version with some of the nudity removed. Originally
rated X, they were able to resubmit the dubbed English version,
and got an R on it. The content between the original English R
and the French X was identical, other than the cropping. Anchor
Bay is releasing a deluxe remastered set of the three authentic
Emmanuelle films, with a choice of language and subtitles,
interviews, a history of the entire series, and more. While this
film was a little grainy, and overexposed in some parts, it was
a far better transfer to DVD than previous efforts, and is in
the original French theatrical ratio.
This film is meant
as erotica, and is one of the more erotic and exotic films I
have seen. There is really no plot, but it supposedly relates
Emmanuelle's metamorphosis from a virginal bride to a wanton
women, encouraged by her husband, who works in the French
embassy, and preaches open marriage. Along the way, she has sex
on the airplane between Paris and Bangkok, befriends a
precocious adolescent named Marie-Ange (Christine Boisson),
falls in love with a female archeologist (Marika Green), has an
affair with another embassy widow (Jeanne Colletin), and then
finally becomes a wanton with the help of a horny old man. Damn,
it took two sentences to give the detailed plot.
One of the maids shows breasts being raped by the houseboy, two
strippers do a girl/girl, in which they show everything, and
another stripper smokes a cigarette with her other lips.
Kristel, Boisson, Green and Colletin all show everything. The
scenery is spectacular, there is a lot of nudity, and some of
the sex scenes, while rather tame, are still very hot. Feminists
in France were up in arms, calling this yet another exploitation
of women, while feminists in Japan had exactly the opposite
viewpoint. In the first sex scene, which I mentioned last night,
Emmanuelle rolls her husband over and gets on top. At this point
in the film, Japanese women in the audience would stand up and
cheer.
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