‘Extremely problematic’: How cult ‘art house erotica’ film Emmanuelle became a global hit

The 21st century reboot marks the 50th anniversary of this sensual French film that brought soft porn to the mainstream, but will it match the success of the original?

A new version of the English version of “Emanuel,” starring French Noémie Merlant, has been released in France. “Emmanuel” directed by Audrey Dewan venice film festival Golden Lion Award Winner Her powerful abortion drama The Happening explores female sexuality in 2024 style.

If there is a need to retell Emmanuel’s sexual adventures, it may be because the original 1974 version now seems very dated. Directed by Frenchman Just Jackin and starring Dutch actor Sylvia Christel as Emmanuel, the film (based on the 1967 novel of the same name) follows the 19-year-old wife of a French diplomat visiting Thailand. It is something that Whether Thai or foreign, the residents always seem ready to have sex. Shot with a soft, dreamlike focus, Emmanuel meets men and women in a variety of places, including joining the Mile High Club, but not all of these experiences are consensual. She is raped in an opium den, but then quickly goes on to have sex with the man who “beat” her in a fight. “It’s not really a great movie,” Sylvia Kristel said of the film. Interview with the Telegraph in 2007.

Although many critics at the time agreed with her opinion, the film was a box office sensation, selling nearly 9 million tickets in France alone. was initially prohibited By the time a new government was elected in 1974, the film was a hit in the United States, much of Europe, and even Japan. Several sequels and spin-offs were produced in the 1970s, with Christel starring in several of them. “This film has become something of a monument to Paris for the Japanese,” she said. [tourists] They were packed into buses and then taken to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Emmanuel. ” A movie theater, the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysées, The film was scheduled to be shown continuously until 1986..

The reason soft porn films become France’s new landmark is down to timing. eve jacksonculture editor and presenter for Arts24 on the news channel France24. “This was the first film of its kind made in French, and one of the first French films to become a global phenomenon,” she told the BBC. “This was also a time when the themes of the era were ‘free love’ and sexual liberation. Contraceptives became widely available and abortion was legalized in France a year later.

“Last Tango in Paris, which also has explicit sex scenes, was a hit in France two years ago, and I think twice as many people went to see Emmanuel as there were at the time.” in the first week. The film broke taboos and showed masturbation, multiple sexual partners, and sex with anonymous people, but at the same time it went mainstream because the size of the audience meant there was an appetite for this kind of film. Because it showed. It sparked a discussion about how sexuality can be shown in film. Although far from a masterpiece, it became a cult hit and the movie poster itself became iconic. You could see it all over Paris in the 1970s. ”

In the United States, Emmanuel was promoted as a “classier” kind of pornographic film. As art house erotica – The tagline “X was never like this” distinguishes it from other X-rated adult films. According to Christel, it was perceived by some fans, especially in Japan, as a feminist film. “They thought Emmanuel was dominant just because of this one scene where she climbs on top of her husband. That was the moment that all the fans took notice of.” Japanese women stood up. I applauded. ”

However, many now agree that the film did not stand the test of time, from its portrayal of Thai citizens as anonymous servants, combatants, and rapists to the issue of sexual consent. Probably. Jackson has described the original film as “very problematic.”

“This character is a sexual object, and most of her partners are dominant older men who orchestrate her pleasure for themselves,” she says. “There are moments, not just in Emanuel, where consent isn’t obvious. Near the end of the film, there’s a horrifying gang rape scene.”

“Sexual consent is a very hot topic in France right now, and not just because of the #MeToo movement,” Jackson continues. “What we have is Gisele Perico rape trial It’s making headlines around the world. So it seems to me that Emanuel is wrong on many levels. In 1974, she was considered a harbinger of an era of free love and sexual adventure, and while she may have given France that reputation, the film was not feminist. It was written and directed by a man. ”

As time went on, the Emanuel phenomenon faded in France as well, and few young people saw the original. At the world premiere of her new film, Noémie Merlant confessed that she had not seen the 1974 version before taking the role.

But even if Audrey Dewan’s version lack of critical response At its world premiere at last week’s San Sebastian Film Festival. Merlin’s Emmanuel is in his 30s and travels to Hong Kong to inspect a luxury hotel where Naomi Watts plays the manager. During his visit, Emmanuel rediscovers his own desires and joy in life through encounters with a bodyguard (Cha-Cha Phan) who reads Wuthering Heights and an engineer played by Will Sharpe from The White Lotus.

Modern audiences now have access to porn on their phones, where erotica has become so mainstream that it’s no longer considered outrageous (even Fifty Shades of Gray was nearly 15 years old). , Diwan suggested, presented a different directorial challenge than the 1974 audience. in Recent interview with Variety It was important to her to imply rather than show sexual tension.

“In the ’70s, there was a desire to show more, and that’s what made the first film such a success,” she said. “However, I felt it was more interesting to keep it hidden. I wanted to expand on that tension by having the audience actively participate in the film and cooperate with the story.”

According to some commentators, it didn’t work. Variety article: “It’s a tricky and potentially impossible short to say something new and substantive about female desire while honoring the film’s hallmark vague, creepy sexuality.” Audrey Dewan’s listless, often frigid new work chooses to do neither.

There were mixed reviews in France. “The staging is wonderful, sophisticated, and intentionally cold.” Contributed to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro. “It shines, but remains cold…Obviously, the goal was to turn Emmanuel into a feminist icon. An interesting idea.” However, France’s Huffington Post is more positive about the film’s purpose. write: “Emmanuel is no longer the object of all desire, the object of a hypersexualized woman. She is an active subject, the very object of her own desire.”

He is also disappointed that the new film is not in French, despite the international success of the previous film in French. But Eve Jackson still believes French viewers will watch the film “out of curiosity.”

“We have a world-renowned cast, and Audrey Dewan is a respected filmmaker. I think everyone wants to know, ‘This female director has a world-renowned cast, and Audrey Dewan is a well-respected director.’ Can we replace the male gaze?’” she says. “I don’t get it. It’s an erotic movie and it has a symbolic title, so I guess that name alone has a 50-year history in France as an erotic sex symbol for men. I still think so.”

“Emmanuelle” (2024) is currently being released in France. It will be released worldwide at a later date.