Emmanuelle Deep Dive - Lilith Likes to Watch
Title: Emmanuelle
Year: 1974
Starring: Sylvia Kristel, Daniel Sarky, Alain Cuny
Director: Just Jaeckin
Synopsis: An employee at the French Embassy in Bangkok invites his wife to join him – and enjoy the benefits of their open marriage. - via Letterboxd.com
Lilith's Notes: Once more we dive into classics.
Buy: Amazon
"l knew then that a cascade is only beautiful if you can say so to the one you love."
I realize it’s kind of arrogant to claim a deep dive into a franchise that has seven parts, not to mention countless unauthorized spin-offs, a video game, a reboot and two novels, while engaging in just the first film, the most recent remake, and listened to a possibly abridged version of one of the two novels.
But, realistically, there’s only so many hours in a week and Kage and I aren’t getting any younger.
So, while we admittedly dove into the shallower end of the experience, we did ultimately decide that since Emmanuelle is such an institution, it deserved more than just a simple review. Much like Emmanuelle herself, we indulged in ways we found intriguing, exploratory and satisfying.
Well, satisfying might be pushing it.
I began my journey with Emmanuelle with the book. I wanted to do a comparison, to see how faithful an adaptation the film was to the novel.
Emmanuelle, not to be confused with Emanuelle from the Black Emanuelle series of exploitation films, began, allegedly, as a pair of novels written in the 60s by a woman named Marayat Andriane, under the pen name Emmanuelle Arsan. In it, Arsan’s beautiful self-insert main character, also named Emmanuelle Arsan, fucks her way through Bangkok, and never once does her husband protest. They love each other, but they do not own one another. Progressive! I’m happy for them. Emmanuelle makes love to several men, a few women, and the entire time she’s just trying to enjoy her life and her youth, and perhaps searching for the absolute pinnacle of eroticism.
The book is fine, though I personally didn’t find it enticing. And it has since come out that the true author was not Marayat Andriane herself but rather her husband. However, let’s be charitable and say they co-authored it. Having said that, it really did feel like it was written by a man. I don’t think a woman would use the word membrane to describe her labia. But I don’t kink-shame. Also, it could be an issue with translation.
So after taking in the book, Kage and I dove into the very first film that began this epic, Emmanuelle.
Emmanuelle (played by Sylvia Kristel) and her husband Jean (played by Daniel Sarky) travel to Bangkok for her husband’s work. On the way, Emmanuelle has sex with two men on the flight. She then meets a whole host of characters who all want to elucidate her on the finer aspect of pleasure. Mostly, this involves telling her what to do, touching themselves in front of her, clandestinely watching her, drugging her and having her assaulted.
Maybe my media literacy wasn’t up to snuff while I was listening to the book but I recalled far less non-consent content in the book than was present in the movie, which was somewhat disconcerting. It’s one thing too long to be liberated and explore one’s sexuality freely, it’s another to be forced into it.
Anyway, other than those troubling plot points, there isn’t anything special here. It’s pretty soft-core except for a rather out there scene involving a cigarette that would be right at home with In The Real of the Senses. I guess it’s commendable because the film embraced its X-rating. I must ask, however, if we didn’t have that cigarette scene, would we even have an X in the first place?
I wasn’t remarkably enthralled with this skin flick to be honest. To me, Emmanuelle has the same style and grace as Melody in Love or Silip, so I don't understand why this spawned a million sequels and something else didn't.
Not really impressed…
And then we watched the remake.
Best Moment: It clearly influenced other softcore films in the golden age.
Worst Moment: The meandering, almost senseless plot.
Title: Emmanuelle
Year: 2024
Apparently the big brain idea behind this remake is to make Emmanuelle (played by Noémie Merlant) a single, career-focused woman who is as pleasurable as sandpaper.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
This was unpleasant. We were bored, and that boredom grew into annoyance.
Fifteen minutes into the movie, Kage pointed out that this isn’t Emmanuelle, this is Fassbender's Shame, and from then on I couldn’t stop seeing it. This is the tale of a person who tries to pursue pleasure, but gets no actual joy from it. Also we’re stuck in the Land of Strategically Placed Limbs and Framing. Cowards.
This is Emmanuelle in name only.
The issue is that they give people these films to direct, but the directors misinterpret the eroticism. If Erika Lust was given a budget like this, we would get an amazing Emmanuelle remake.
This is cold, isolated, and locked down in one location until the very end.
Now, I admit, I enjoyed the climax to this film more than Kage did, but we both agree that the entire movie didn’t earn this climax. It just suddenly sort of happened. It built up to one thing, gave into another, then the movie was over.
What an utter waste of time. As an adaptation of the novel it is dreadful. As a remake of the original 70s movie it stumbles along its own path blindly. This remake could have been good, and I believe the world is ready for a modern take on Emmanuelle but this a poor swing and a miss.
Or maybe we just leave Emmanuelle and her lovers back in a simpler time.
Worst Moment: The meandering, almost senseless plot.
LILITH'S SCORE: 2.5/5
Title: Emmanuelle
Year: 2024
Starring: Noémie Merlant, Will Sharp, Naomi Watts
Director: Audrey Diwan
Synopsis: Emmanuelle, a quality controller for a luxury hotel brand, arrives in Hong Kong to evaluate a hotel run by Margot, having been tasked with finding a good reason to sack her. Searching for a lost pleasure, she has numeral sensual experiences inside the hotel, and crosses path with Kei, a mysterious client who she becomes infatuated with. - via Letterboxd.com
Lilith's Notes: I wanted so much more.
Buy: Mubi
"I like listening to conversations I'm not meant to hear."
Apparently the big brain idea behind this remake is to make Emmanuelle (played by Noémie Merlant) a single, career-focused woman who is as pleasurable as sandpaper.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
This was unpleasant. We were bored, and that boredom grew into annoyance.
Fifteen minutes into the movie, Kage pointed out that this isn’t Emmanuelle, this is Fassbender's Shame, and from then on I couldn’t stop seeing it. This is the tale of a person who tries to pursue pleasure, but gets no actual joy from it. Also we’re stuck in the Land of Strategically Placed Limbs and Framing. Cowards.
This is Emmanuelle in name only.
The issue is that they give people these films to direct, but the directors misinterpret the eroticism. If Erika Lust was given a budget like this, we would get an amazing Emmanuelle remake.
This is cold, isolated, and locked down in one location until the very end.
Now, I admit, I enjoyed the climax to this film more than Kage did, but we both agree that the entire movie didn’t earn this climax. It just suddenly sort of happened. It built up to one thing, gave into another, then the movie was over.
What an utter waste of time. As an adaptation of the novel it is dreadful. As a remake of the original 70s movie it stumbles along its own path blindly. This remake could have been good, and I believe the world is ready for a modern take on Emmanuelle but this a poor swing and a miss.
Or maybe we just leave Emmanuelle and her lovers back in a simpler time.
Best Moment: The ending.
Worst Moment: The ending.
LILITH'S SCORE: 1/5
Until next time, my voracious voyeurs. I’m Lilith, and I’m always watching.
Comments
Post a Comment