Rating: 
Summary: Classic soft porn from an age of innocence
Review: In its day a shocking breakthrough, 'Emmanuelle' was one of the first soft porn movies to go legitimate and be treated to release in High Street cinemas. It aspired to an art house status, its soft focus photography giving it a dreamy, haunting feel. Sylvia Kristel is its eminently desirable star: she appears in her first scene clad in a simple silk wrap, a bored French housewife, young enough to have retained a firm body and a resolute innocence, yet sophisticated enough to model in the nude and carry herself with an elegance verging on criminality. Life - and morality - for her are as soft-focused as the photography.
Her husband, meanwhile, is extolling her virtues as a lover to his best friend, explaining she was a virgin when he met her ... but look what she`s learned since. His work takes him to Thailand, Emmanuelle follows. There, life is cheap, sex is free, and Emmanuelle soon meets up with a coterie of equally bored, equally desirable women who introduce her to a broad menu of sex, from masturbating in a hanging chair to being corrupted by an ancient lothario.
"Emmanuelle" has all the classic elements of erotica - voyeurism, sex with a stranger, sex on a plane, women on women, use of force, the notion of sexual innocence being liberated, the predatory older woman, the predatory older man.
There is a lot of nudity ... but tastefully done. The sex is soft-porn - it is very erotic, very amusing, very soft-focus, at times quite beautifully done ... despite the dated feel of the soundtrack. "Emmanuelle" presents sex as poetry, as adventure. It embodies a libertarian philosophy - only love can heal the world ... so let's have sex. It offers a valuable health lesson - a truly healthy human being is one enjoying frequent orgasms!
A film to be enjoyed on your own ... or with a partner ... or two. And nobody, but nobody, ever looked better in a baseball cap than Sylvia Kristel.
Rating: 
Summary: Remarkable staying power
Review: It is amazing that over a quarter of a century since its original release that Emmanuelle remains in the top three best selling French films on video. But is it so remarkable? Here we have a piece of pure eroticism which has scarcely been matched in all those years. Emmanuelle is not about explicit sexual action - those that buy it will be disappointed if that is what they expect, with the exception of the notorious nightclub smoking scene which I feel sure director Just Jaeckin must now regret including. If it is possible to feel outraged by anything when watching a movie about sex, then this scene provokes that reaction. No, this is a mainstream movie which has the power to move both men and women viewers - not least because of a towering central performance by the gloriously sexy Ms Kristel. She is never self-conscious about her body nor at the same time ever flaunts it. Her nudity is completely natural and her joy in her exploration of her sexuality totally convincing.This is because Kristel - and a high-profile supporting cast - are all extremely capable actors, and are very well directed by Jaeckin. I guess one should not take the overall premise of totally liberated sexual experimentation too seriously, but you completely believe in the characters and want them to come out of the other side unscathed. I first saw this movie as an 18-year-old on its original release, saw it again with its original French dialogue in Paris several years later and have watched it countless times on video and TV since. Yet it still retains the same erotic charge as it did all those years ago. How Kristel managed to completely fail to live up to it in her subsequent films is completely beyond me. The rest of her Emmanuelle series are unsexy and even seedy by comparison and her ventures into American films offered her nothing of any substance. I believe Hollywood missed a glorious opportunity to create an top international star.
Rating: 
Summary: Very naughty
Review: Just shy of some gross porn, but excellent musical score, shame soundtrack is no longer available.
Rating:
Summary: I'll never forget this movie
Review: One time my parents went out to dinner and left me with a babysitter. My babysitter's boyfriend called so that she had to leave for a little while. Luckily, my parents paid for Showtime so that I was able to see this movie. My babysitter got back before my parents and everyone was happy.
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC SOFT-CORE PORN
Review: REALLY, THERE IS VERY LITTLE PLOT TO FIND IN THIS FRENCH-MADE SOFT-CORE PORN FLICK. BUT, THERE ARE PLENTY OF HOT SEX SCENES TO SPARE IN THIS CLASSIC PORNO FLICK. IT'S BASICALLY ABOUT A YOUNG WOMAN [SYLVIA KRISTEL] WHO JUST ENCOUNTERS SEX EVERYWHERE SHE GOES, WHETHER IT BE WITH MEN OR WOMEN. SURE, THE ACTING AIN'T GOOD, AND SURE, IT'S VERY SHORT ON PLOT, BUT THEN AGAIN, ALMOST ALL PORNO MOVIES ARE SHORT ON PLOT. THIS HAS BEAUTIFULLY FILMED SEX SCENES AND IT HAS AN EXCELLENT THREESOME FOR AN ENDING. WHETHER YOU'RE A YOUNG OR OLD FAN OF SOFT-CORE OR EVEN HARD-CORE PORN, THEN GET THIS NOW. THE FILM COULD'VE USED BETTER DUBBING. FOLLOWED BY A NUMBER OF SEQUELS.
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful cinematography, beautiful women, dumb story
Review: The scenic cinematography was beautiful, with lots of soft focus and a bright, low-contrast, slightly-overexposed look. The people cinematograph varied with the mood, sometimes soft focus, and sometimes a sharp or even harsh look. Emanuelle was bored and looking for excitement, and the movie's look reflected that. The actresses were all beautiful, with very natural-looking bodies, skillful use of cosmetics, and attractive lighting. Their acting looked very natural too, whether they were dressed or not. (However, I don't speak French, so I can't judge very well how the dialog was performed.) The sex scenes were not explicit, but they were quite titillating, for part of the movie at least. Sylvia Kristel radiated sexuality even when fully-dressed. Even the story started out decent. Emanuelle was an upper-class European wife in Asia, and expected not to work -- an understandably boring situation for her. Since she was in an open marriage, she tried sexual experimentation to fill her time. That led to a few somewhat-interesting adventures and good soft-core sex scenes. Unfortunately the story introduced Emanuelle to Mario, who took her on an unpleasant odyssey of sexual situations. No matter how bored or sexually adventurous a woman might be, I couldn't imagine her appreciating Mario's idea of a good time. Her actions, while well-acted, made no sense. The sex scenes involving Mario were neither credible nor erotic. What happened to the Emanuelle who defied her peers' advice and spend time with Bee? Why couldn't she just tell Mario to get lost?
Rating:
Summary: Good start (if you are on the race)
Review: This film deserves its due at least because it is one of the first in its genre and style. You can buy an erotic book in Borders or a set of pictures around the dirty corner -- as long as you see the difference, you will appreciate the film.
Rating:
Summary: Historic Erotica
Review: This is an historic piece of Erotica. Exquisitley filmed. The plot on the other hand is dumb which you would expect from most erotica at the time. But to its credit the are sme nice soft core scenes. Especially the lesbian scenes. The lesbian scens reall add the erotica to this movie. Not that there is graphic detail or that the scenes are long but there very erotic none the less.Definatley worth the nostalgic value and if your in the mood for something soft but good
Rating:
Summary: If you want porn...
Review: This is NOT PORN, this is NOT EVEN 90's SEX ON PUBLIC TV.
This is a "historic" piece, much as the greek naked statues. I saw it a couple of years ago, I was already over 25, and had problem understanding why it was such a controversial film. Perhaps it's because the story rings bells of truth and reality. Seems more than real. So pretend-prudish ones have to be shocked! It's definitly a film for grown-ups, but it's very soft, very mild, and definitly a nice turn-on for a woman!
Warm recommandations, except maybe for my own mother! ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Hot softcore
Review: This is older softcore, and doesn't show as much as some of what is out today. Also, it attempts to have a storyline, so the sex scenes are spread out more than some of the modern softcore. However, this movie is very hot. Three or four of the action scenes really worked for me, while the remaining scenes ranged from pretty good to weak. The storyline itself is weak, in my opinion, as it revolves around people who are trying to out-do each other when it comes to having sex. The philosophical mumbo-jumbo the film spouts is rubbish, and is used to justify the betrayal/rape that occurs about 3/4ths of the way through the movie. My favorite scene is a scene near the start, where Sylvia and a young lady visitor are sitting on a porch, and the visitor unzips her shorts, sticks her hand down, and brings herself off. She never takes her shorts off, so your view of the action is not as good as it would be in one of today's films, but the scene was still very hot, with Sylvia looking a bit shocked as she watched the young almost-stranger going at it. This is the sort of "emotional overtone" that gives it more erotic energy, and is what makes this movie better than most softcore films that have wall-to-wall action scenes, full nudity, etc., but no energy, excitement, or emotion. I give the film only 4 stars because of the two "forced/rape" scenes. To be honest, I do like scenes where the girl starts off saying "no" but winds up saying, or means, "yes." My problem with the scenes from Emmanuelle (especially the "main" one) is that the girl was still saying "no" at the end, and appeared to really mean "no"--although the storyline indicates otherwise. I found that to be a real turn-off.
|
