Emmanuelle

For other uses, see Emmanuelle (disambiguation).

Photo of Sylvia Kristel used to promote the 1974 film Emmanuelle

Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French softcore erotic movies based on a character created by Emmanuelle Arsan in the novel Emmanuelle (1959). Only films and episodes produced by the ASP ("Alain Siritzky Productions") film company are official and based on Arsan's character.

The name Emmanuelle (and its various spelling combinations) has gone on to become metonymic with erotic film.

The character

Emmanuelle appeared as the nom de plume of Marayat Rollet-Andriane, a French-Thai actress born in the 1930s in Bangkok. Her 1957 book The Joys of a Woman detailed the sexual exploits of Emmanuelle, the "bored housewife" of a French diplomat. Rollet-Andriane's book caused a sensation in France and was banned.

Rollet-Andriane appears in the 1976 film Laure, which she wrote and which was directed by her husband, Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane, who asked to have his name removed from the credits, so direction is either credited to anonymous or Emmanuelle Arsan.

The producer of Laure, Ovidio Assonitis, claimed that all books published under the nom-de-plume Emmanuelle Arsan were written by her husband Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane rather than by Marayat .

Films

The first Emmanuelle film was the French Emmanuelle with the Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel in the title role. She came to be the actress best identified with the role. This film pushed the boundaries of what was then acceptable on screen, with sex scenes, skinny-dipping, masturbation, the "Mile High Club", rape, and a scene in which a dancer lights a cigarette and puffs it with her vagina. This film was created and directed by the French director Just Jaeckin.

Unlike many films that tried to avoid an X-rating, the first Emmanuelle film embraced it, and became a success with a viewing audience estimated at 300 million. It remains one of France's most successful films, and played in the Arc de Triomphe theatre for over eleven years.

In France and the US the film was uncut, but British censors balked at masturbation and explicit sex. Heavy cuts were made to the film including the complete removal of the opium den rape and the infamous 'cigarette' sequence in the club.

Several sequels starring Kristel followed, beginning with Emmanuelle 2 known as Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman in its US release, and also Emmanuelle l’antivierge in some European press materials, including the soundtrack LP and CD.

Kristel sold her interest for $150,000, missing on a share of the film's $26m domestic gross. She was paid $6,000 for her role but negotiated a $100,000 contract for the sequel, Emmanuelle 2.

Kristel stepped away from the role in the 1980s, yielding to younger actresses, but returned for the seventh feature film and continued to make cameo appearances as an older Emmanuelle in cable TV films. She also appeared in films that capitalized on or parodied her Emmanuelle image, such as the American sex comedy Private Lessons.

Laura Gemser became the second most popular actress to play Emanuelle in the 1970s. She starred in several un-official sequels such as Black Emanuelle (1975), Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977) and Emanuelle Escapes from Hell (1983)

After the last official Emmanuelle theatrical feature film, Emmanuelle au 7ème ciel, ASP took Arsan's character to made-for-cable instead. These included a science fiction series in the 1990s called Emmanuelle in Space starring American actress Krista Allen in one of her first roles. Emmanuelle: The Private Collection introduced Natasja Vermeer in the lead role for another slew of video episodes, one featuring an erotic showdown with Count Dracula.

French distribution company Studio Canal has acquired home video rights for a number of Emmanuelle movies and has released remastered DVDs of the films.

At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Alain Siritzky said he was looking for a new Emmanuelle, with production on the first film scheduled to begin in September. It was announced at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival that Allie Haze (performing under the alias Brittany Joy) had been chosen.

Explicit content

The sexual explicitness in Emmanuelle films varies from arty softcore to full hardcore, although no penetration or oral sex made it to theatrical versions. Many question the place of hardcore scenes in Emmanuelle and ASP never attempted to mix the two genres after experimenting in the late 1980s.

• Emmanuelle 4 (1984), starring Kristel and new Emmanuelle Mia Nygren, had hardcore scenes shot, but they were never used. These scenes, which did not involve the main actors, were included in television versions and turned up as extras on European DVD editions of Emmanuelle 4 and in a version called "Emmanuelle 4X" on a VHS in France in the 1980s.
• Emmanuelle 5 (1986), directed by Walerian Borowczyk, was released in two versions: one with softcore love scenes, and a French home video version that extended several scenes with hardcore sex directed by Borowczyk (apparently Borowczyk said that he had not directed them). The scenes are the Love Express and dance studio segments, embellished with penetration, ejaculation and a woman urinating. This VHS version omits several minutes of footage seen in the theatrical version (including dialogue and plot).
• Emmanuelle 6 (1988) also had 2 hardcore scenes (one short without ejaculation - but fellation and penetration - with the couple comprising a white man and a black woman, whom Emmanuelle watches in a horse box, and the second longer, with fellation, penetration and ejaculation, starring the same couple entering the place where Emmanuelle was being held prisoner at the end of the movie), directed by erotic horror specialist Jean Rollin. However, they were not used in the theater version, but were included on a hardcore VHS version in France.

Box office

The film played to packed houses in Paris, running for years. Emmanuelle was also an international hit and has played to 300 million. Taking video and DVD into account revenue is estimated close to 650 million. 

Adaptations

A number of productions in Italy, Japan and the United States cashed in on the Emmanuelle craze, changing the spelling of the title. In a number of cases, the character's name was spelled "Emanuelle" suggesting these films were not authorized. Among the best known were Italian "Black Emanuelle" films starring Laura Gemser. Other versions (in particular, the video/cable versions) would feature Marcela Walerstein and Krista Allen.

The 1978 spoof Carry On Emmannuelle (with double "N") starred Kenneth Williams as the French ambassador to London. Having lost his libido by landing on a church spire during a parachute jump, he discovers his sex-starved wife, Emmannuelle Prevert, has seduced a string of VIPs. It starred Suzanne Danielle in the title role.

Soundtracks

The soundtrack albums went on to success.

• Emmanuelle (1974), France. Barclay 80545, LP. Music by Pierre Bachelet.
• Emmanuelle 2 (1975), France. Wip Records 863 002, LP. Music by Francis Lai.
• Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977), Japan. Philips FDX-334, LP. Music by Serge Gainsbourg.
• Emmanuelle 4 (1984), France. Carrere 66084, LP / Music Box Records 3770002531051 (MBR-006), CD. Music by Michel Magne.
• Emmanuelle 5 (1986), France. Music by Pierre Bachelet. Never released on LP or CD.
• Emmanuelle 6 (1988), France. Music by Olivier Day. Never released on LP or CD.
• Emmanuelle au 7ème ciel (1992), France. Music by Pierre Bachelet. Never released on LP or CD.

Filmography

• Emmanuelle (1974)
• Emmanuelle 2 (1975)
• Goodbye Emmanuelle (1977)
• Emmanuelle 4 (1984)
• Emmanuelle 5 (1986)
• Emmanuelle 6 (1988)
• Emmanuelle 7 (1992)
• Emmanuelle's Secret (1992)
• Emmanuelle's Revenge (1992)
• Emmanuelle's Perfume (1992)
• Emmanuelle's Magic (1992)
• Emmanuelle's Love (1993)
• Emmanuelle in Venice (1993)
• Emmanuelle Forever (1993)
• Emmanuelle: First Contact (1994)
• Emmanuelle 2: A World of Desire (1994)
• Emmanuelle 3: A Lesson in Love (1994)
• Emmanuelle 4: Concealed Fantasy (1994)
• Emmanuelle 5: A Time to Dream (1994)
• Emmanuelle 6: One Final Fling (1994)
• Emmanuelle 7: The Meaning of Love (1994)
• Emmanuelle 2000: Being Emmanuelle (2000)
• Emmanuelle 2000: Emmanuelle and the Art of Love (2000)
• Emmanuelle 2000: Emmanuelle in Paradise (2000)
• Emmanuelle 2000: Jewel of Emmanuelle (2000)
• Emmanuelle 2000: Intimate Encounters (2000)
• Emmanuelle 2000: Emmanuelle's Sensual Pleasure (2000)
• The Joys of Emmanuelle, Parts 1-3 (2001)
• Emmanuelle 2000 (2001)
• Emmanuelle in Rio (2003)
• Emmanuelle Private Collection: Emmanuelle vs. Dracula (2004)
• Emmanuelle Private Collection: Sex Talk (2004)
• Emmanuelle Private Collection: The Sex Lives Of Ghosts (2004)
• Emmanuelle Private Collection: Sexual Spells (2004)
• Emmanuelle Private Collection: The Art Of Ecstasy (2006)
• Emmanuelle Private Collection: Jesse's Secrets Desires (2006)
• Emmanuelle Tango (2006)

Related works

• Laure (1976) ... aka Forever Emmanuelle - written and directed by Emmanuelle Arsan
• La Marge (1976) ... aka Emmanuelle 77 - starring Sylvia Kristel
• Néa (1976) ... aka A Young Emmanuelle - written by Emmanuelle Arsan
• Emmanuelle: A Hard Look (2000) - documentary about the Emmanuelle film
• Black Emanuelle, an unofficial Italian spinoff film series

External links

• Emmanuelle at the Internet Movie Database
• The watershed moment in film that was ... Emmanuelle (by Alex Cox, The Guardian, Friday 15 December 2000)