Borowczyk's penultimate film is a curious addition to the "official" Emmanuelle series, disowned by its director and unlikely to totally please either his fans or fans of the soft-core franchise. But there's enough of Borowczyk to interest his admirers, even though the result is undeniably a confused mish-mash, with a plot line which vies with Emmanuelle 4 for the most ludicrous of the good lady's misadventures.
The film begins with Emmanuelle (poorly played by the miscast blonde Monique Gabrielle) running into controversy at Cannes when her new film Love Express is premiered. Critics don't seem to agree whether its art, pornography or a twisted version of "Walt Disney" a controversy similar to that generated by some of Borowczyk's earlier masterworks and Emmanuelle is chased by a raving mob of paparazzi along the Cannes main drag, which strips her naked and would have ripped her to shreds had not she sought refuge in the speedboat of a passing millionaire. Despite the millionaire's distaste for erotica, he and Emmanuelle begin a romantic affair, which continues in Paris until Emmanuelle determines to accept the invitation of a mysterious foreign Prince Rajid (of some fictional Middle Eastern country). Rajid, a lunatic dictator and Orientalist stereotype par-excellence, kidnaps Emmanuelle and imprisons her in his harem. But the millionaire hires a SWAT team to rescue his beauty, and the two intensify their relationship by taking to the air in the white elephant plane designed by the millionaire's father, who seems to have had a touch of Howard Hughes.
Now, all of this from a rationalist POV is complete codswallop. But certain sections most notably the clips from Love Express demonstrate Borowczyk's usual artsy and disorientating approach to erotic mise-en-scene. Objects and transactions become more important than the frail human flesh, everything is glimpsed partially and framed from odd angles, the bodies in congress become simply another part of a systemized world. At times, the film seems like a random compendium of Borowczyk's abiding interests we see erotic memorabilia, the raging sea, the female struggle against objectification, the male attempt to impose his own kingdom on the world of things (Prince Rajid's country has some affinities with Goto, Island of Love). But these affinities with Borowczyk's previous work are more like echoes from better days than a cohesive new artistic statement, and the film never creates the space in which these things believable though extraordinary in The Beast or Immoral Tales come across as slightly ludicrous affectations.
The film was taken out of his hands some time between shooting and release, so I guess we'll never know how close this film is to Borowczyk's conception, or whether he could have made an artistically successful contribution to the Emmanuelle series. Like the Kristel Emmanuelle films, Borowczyk's heyday was in the 70s, where there was a market for upmarket soft-core confections which he then managed to subvert into something far more rich and strange. Emmanuelle 5 is worth seeing for both Borowczyk and Emmanuelle completists, but be aware that both had seen far better days.
The film begins with Emmanuelle (poorly played by the miscast blonde Monique Gabrielle) running into controversy at Cannes when her new film Love Express is premiered. Critics don't seem to agree whether its art, pornography or a twisted version of "Walt Disney" a controversy similar to that generated by some of Borowczyk's earlier masterworks and Emmanuelle is chased by a raving mob of paparazzi along the Cannes main drag, which strips her naked and would have ripped her to shreds had not she sought refuge in the speedboat of a passing millionaire. Despite the millionaire's distaste for erotica, he and Emmanuelle begin a romantic affair, which continues in Paris until Emmanuelle determines to accept the invitation of a mysterious foreign Prince Rajid (of some fictional Middle Eastern country). Rajid, a lunatic dictator and Orientalist stereotype par-excellence, kidnaps Emmanuelle and imprisons her in his harem. But the millionaire hires a SWAT team to rescue his beauty, and the two intensify their relationship by taking to the air in the white elephant plane designed by the millionaire's father, who seems to have had a touch of Howard Hughes.
Now, all of this from a rationalist POV is complete codswallop. But certain sections most notably the clips from Love Express demonstrate Borowczyk's usual artsy and disorientating approach to erotic mise-en-scene. Objects and transactions become more important than the frail human flesh, everything is glimpsed partially and framed from odd angles, the bodies in congress become simply another part of a systemized world. At times, the film seems like a random compendium of Borowczyk's abiding interests we see erotic memorabilia, the raging sea, the female struggle against objectification, the male attempt to impose his own kingdom on the world of things (Prince Rajid's country has some affinities with Goto, Island of Love). But these affinities with Borowczyk's previous work are more like echoes from better days than a cohesive new artistic statement, and the film never creates the space in which these things believable though extraordinary in The Beast or Immoral Tales come across as slightly ludicrous affectations.
The film was taken out of his hands some time between shooting and release, so I guess we'll never know how close this film is to Borowczyk's conception, or whether he could have made an artistically successful contribution to the Emmanuelle series. Like the Kristel Emmanuelle films, Borowczyk's heyday was in the 70s, where there was a market for upmarket soft-core confections which he then managed to subvert into something far more rich and strange. Emmanuelle 5 is worth seeing for both Borowczyk and Emmanuelle completists, but be aware that both had seen far better days.