Emmanuelle
From xyclopedia - the history of pornography and sexual expression
Movie critics such as Jim Holliday regards the 1970s as the Golden Age for American hardcore. The best softcore appeared during the same decade from European filmmakers such as Joe Sarno, Joe D'Amato and Just Jaeckin. The Emmanuelle series is the most successful of its kind, grossing about $600 million dollars worldwide. Audiences stood in long lines around the world to see the first popular versions of Emmanuelle.
Sylvia Kristal held the title role in 1974's film, while Laura Gemser stars in 1978's Emmanuelle in America. Sylvia's Emmanuelle is more naive than Laura and closer to the Emmanuelle of Arsan's presumed autobiography, says Bob Rimmer. The success of the first Emmanuelle typecast both Sylvia and director Just Jaeckin. Neither again attained equal success.
The author of the book Emmanuelle, Maryat Rollet-Andriane, hid behind the psuedonym Emmanuelle Arsan. First published in 1967, it became an underground best seller. It was first filmed in 1968 as I Emmanuelle, but did not become a hit until ex-fashion photographer Just Jaeckin made the 1974 version. "The cliché of Europeans corrupted by depraved Asia underlies Emmanuelle's plot and imagery," writes Maitland McDonaugh in her 1997 book The Fifty Most Erotic Films. "From massage parlors staffed by giggling, raven-haired girls to smoky opium dens and clandestine kickboxing arenas, the film's French characters are powerless to resist the allure of the hedonistic East."
The story takes place in Bangkok, Thailand where Emmanuelle's husband, Jean, is a diplomat. "It's a boring life for wives, but Jean tells her 'You may play tennis, golf, explore the canals and make love.' Unlike most husbands with such a beautiful wife, Jean believes that Emmanuelle needs to experience new depths of eroticism. She tries by masturbating with a neighboring wife's daughter. Then she falls in love with Bee who is blonde and beautiful. When Emmanuelle returns after hopelessly pursuing Bee (during which time Jean has sadistically screwed a wealthy bisexual friend of theirs), Jean suggests that She can get her revenge on Bee with another lover. The lover will teach her all there is to know about sex is Mario, a septuagenarian. With Mario's guidance, and while smoking hashish, Emmanuelle becomes the sexual prize of the winner of a vicious Thai boxing match while Mario watches. Then she is raped by two Orientals, and shares Mario with a male lover." (X-Rated Videotape Guide, p. 84) "The film distances itself from hardcore…by virtue of relentless prettiness," writes McDonagh. "…The emphasis is on cleanliness - between the rainstorms, swimming pools and waterfalls, the thought that sex is dirty is washed away before it can even form."
Jaeckin later directed 1975's The Story of O, 1979's The French Woman, 1981's Lady Chatterley's Lover and 1984's The Perils of Gwendoline. Kristel appeared in 1980's Tigers in Lipstick, 1981's Private Lessons, 1983's Private School, 1985's Mata Hari and 1986's Game of Seduction. She also starred in the three bona fide sequels to Emmanuelle: 1976's Emmanuelle, the Joys of a Woman, 1979's Goodbye Emmanuelle and 1984 Emmanuelle 4. But as McDonagh notes, Emmanuelle became a generic term for softcore sex pictures such as the one-m Emanuelle series starring Asian actress Laura Gemser: 1975's Emanuelle the Queen of Sados, 1976's Emanuelle on Taboo Island, 1977's Emanuelle Around the World, 1978's Emanuelle in the Country and 1979's Emanuelle's Daughter. There were other imitations such as Emanuelle in Bangkok and Emanuelle 5 starring scream queen Monique Gabrielle.
Joe D'Amato made 1978's kinky Emmanuelle in America where the heroine takes pictures for skin magazines and investigates the sex business.
In 1982, Bob Rimmer reviewed Emanuelle, the Queen of Sados: "… Jerry Falwell has launched a mail order campaign to support new legislation to censor cable television, and as Sidney Niekerk, retiring president of the Adult Film Association of America and president of Cal Vista, warns members of the AFAA not to sell hardcore films to pay television. He is sure that hardcore on pay television will inevitably bring repressive legislation, which brings up the question of the difference between Hard R and an XXX rating. It's not much, as you will discover if you watch this film, which is the best I have ever seen of the Emmanuelle series. Shot in Greece and Cyprus, the film is much more professional than most adult films. The rape scene is not gratuitous." (X-Rated Videotape Guide, p. 83)
