Contains one really great erotic scene but is otherwise mostly a chore.
This film must be in your collection if you are interested in the Art of erotic cinema. This Art is, as far as I can see, practically non-existent, (except in brief images), or at least examples of it are very hard to find, and I would welcome any help I can get in expanding my knowledge.
Unfortunately I am not referring to the film as a whole but am purely selecting the single scene and it's short coda which occurs near the beginning of the film when Emmannuelle couples with two strangers, one after the other, while on a plane on her way to her husband in Bankok. It is really the first of these couplings which is interesting but the other one supplies a fitting supplement rounding it off like a piece of music.
This scene is almost perfectly done, being only slightly marred by a lapse in continuity in the first half of the two part action when the picture reverses from left to right. The lighting and sound of the plane engines create a perfect realistic atmosphere and the acting is very convincing. Despite it's context in a commercial soft-porn film this scene has all the qualities of an arthaus film and stays in the mind when almost everything else about the film is forgotten.
The action takes place in the passenger seats while the other people on the plane are sleeping, except for the second man who is watching from a seat further back. The secretiveness and furtiveness of what they are doing is an essential part of it's eroticism
There is partial nudity only but the concealment only makes the erotic charge greater while the participants realistically grapple with the tricky logistics of this sort of encounter. It is also rare for the 'vocal' soundtrack to be this convincing in scenes of this sort but it is of equal importance in creating the effect of realism. Even the sound of the engines are an important ingredient; it's like hearing the nervous system itself as it goes into full sexual arousal and response.
Sound and picture are all of a piece. This is one for connoisseurs and not to be missed. It has all the flavour and squelch of real sex and if this isn't a fine example of Realism in art I don't know what is. And it is much sexier than any porn if you have normal healthy instincts. If you don't find it very erotic I'll hazard a guess that you're looking for something much more perverse than a taste for lovely thighs set off with stockings and suspenders, and small perfectly formed breasts. Don't say I didn't give you all the facts.

Many who were not of age in the first part of the seventies have never seen this film and have a tendency to judge it inadvertantly by the standards of the later films in the series which they may have seen. But there was nothing to be found of anywhere near comparable value in the later films and even number 5 which was directed by Walerian Borowczyk is abysmally bad. The best things I could find in any of the other films were in no.2 where there are some good erotic images of Emannuelle as she sits on a bed, topless and in her underwear. The art-direction of this scene was very good and some people may remember that stills taken on set were used in publicity for the film at the time. Otherwise the most erotic thing in no. 2 is a long held shot of the gusset of E's knickers as another girl's fingers move around inside. Actually I'm not dismissing this, it is quite erotic and it is interesting from a 'theoretical' point of view, if you see what I mean, but it's no Wonder of erotic filmmaking.
There are also some well known photo-style images of E. undergoing acupuncture but they are a bit too self-conscously like advertising art-direction for my liking.
But getting back to Emmanuelle 1, if you want to watch the rest of the film make sure to watch it in French as that way it is quite bearable. There is a disturbing sequence later in the film at a Tai boxing match, where Emmanuelle is provided to service the victor, which is perhaps essential, for your education, to see, but it isn't pleasant.

Check out my reviews of 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' and 'Story Of Sin' for similarly interesting scenes.

Great as soft porn, not so good as a movie.
Emmanuelle , released in 1974 was the first soft core porn movie to achieve major box office success ,and this after the French government tried to have it banned. With utter predictability this ensured the film was an overnight success in it's native France , and it also went on to triumph in the USA where it was marketed as an art house movie which is a bit like marketing "Monty Python And The Holy Grail" as an historical movie , but there you go. Based on the controversial 1957 novel "Emmanuelle-The Joys Of A Woman " by Emmanuelle Arsan this is a film with some arresting erotic scenes but one which overall takes itself far too seriously .
The films flimsy plot-when does any porn film soft-core or otherwise have anything but mind-see's Emmanuelle (Sylvia Kristel) leave Paris to visit her diplomat husband in Bangkok , where she mixes with her husbands more sexually adventurous and liberated friends .Her husband encourages her to have extra-marital affairs and she starts by starting a lesbian relationship with archaeologist Bee(Marika Green)When this fizzles out she is placed under the tutelage of sex guru Mario( Alain Cuny) who explains to her how to explore her erotic desires.
That's about it really .Directed by Just Jaeckin , who also directed "The Story Of O" the movie features some truly eye catching cinematography using the exotic Thai locations and the performance of the striking natural beauty Kristel is surpringly good. This is the un-cut version so some of the films more contentious scenes, which have been victim to the censor before have been restored. The notorious nightclub smoking scene which is about as erotic as having your genitals poked with a lion fish is still there as, are the slightly regrettable scenes where Emmanuelle is coerced into things that she doesn't really want to do , which some will view as rape. Emmanuelle is far too plaint a character in this movie , it would have been preferable for her to gain some level of control and independence as the narrative progressed
The last third of the film degenerates badly with some excruciating dialogue and the introduction of some annoying characters and it's seems clear to me director and writers really had no idea where to take the film and the therefore the characters. Still , some of the scenes have retained a very pleasing erotic frisson and it has a certain charm and simplicity in this age of easily accessible internet porn , most of which makes "Emmanuelle" look like a "Flake" ad. The sequels that followed while allowing Kristel ,who bafflingly never followed up on her successes with this move franchise , to invest the character with more assertiveness were a succession of increasingly tawdry copies of the first. As soft-core porn Emmanuelle is probably as good as you will see .Judged purely as a piece of cinema it's not that great but most people will view it purely as the former so it does it's job very well.

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