The wife of a French diplomat in Bangkok embarks on a voyage of self-discovery.The wife of a French diplomat in Bangkok embarks on a voyage of self-discovery.The wife of a French diplomat in Bangkok embarks on a voyage of self-discovery.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaStar Sylvia Kristel was apparently fairly unhappy that she was not approached regarding the English-language dub of the film, as she herself spoke fluent English and felt she was capable of doing the job herself.
- GoofsDuring the locker room scene at the tennis club (about 1 hour 8 minutes), Emmanuelle takes off her dress twice. Once in the far shot, and again in the close up shot.
- Quotes
Emmanuelle: Basically eroticism is the opposite of making love.
Mario: It's notably through love that man strives to break with his daily existence. It's the victory of dreams over nature.
- Alternate versionsThe dubbed U.S. version was originally rated X in 1974. An alternate, R-rated version was released later in 1974, having trimmed or removed all the more explicit sex scenes. In 1984, the uncut version was re-released in the U.S. with an X rating. That version is currently available unrated on video.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Vysshiy klass (1991)
Featured review
The ambiguity of Emmanuelle
The biggest cinema surprise hit of 1975, based on a book by Emmanuelle Arsan, made Dutch model Sylvia Kristel a famous actress. The first thing you'll notice is that over 30 years later, the fascination with the exotic is still strong. It was worth going to Thailand and present the real thing instead of shooting "Asian" scenes in a park in Spain or Italy like many other European film crews did at the time. And it surely is one of the very few erotic films where you have to pay attention to the dialogs. It was important to explain the bizarre idea of "freedom" which the scandalous novel had introduced - arguably a two-edged sword. It is said that dependency is humiliating, but aren't scenes like when Emmanuelle is given as a "prize" to the Thai boxer even more humiliating? Easy to see why the movie stirred up discussions - which made even more people want to watch it. The ambiguity of this "freedom" in "Emmanuelle" thus was used for marketing. In her autobiography "Undressing Emmanuelle", Kristel recalls one scene with real horror: near the end, when she is raped by the opium smoker. The young man didn't understand a word of what she or the director said, so he just grabbed her. Sylvia's disgust is visible, and if the sequels hadn't been softer, she probably wouldn't have made them. The first Emmanuelle film still was experimenting with both visual style and a provocative attitude; it may have created a certain formula even though it didn't completely obey its rules, since it was rather the more gentle and glossy second Emmanuelle film which perfected the formula. I voted 7/8/6/4/6/7 for the six cinema films of the series.
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- unbrokenmetal
- May 11, 2008
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $500,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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