One of the more exciting releases out recently hits shelves this week -
Emmanuelle: Special Edition, available from Lionsgate Home Video (SRP: $19.98). The 1974 cult classic was a huge artistic and commercial success, bringing a touch of that famed French freeness, romance, and yes, nudity, to curious Americans. While it may seem a bit naive, dated and even tame by today's standards, this was a big deal in 1974; people were actually lining up around the block to get in.
The plot revolves around a young French woman (the stunning
Sylvia Kristel) joining her diplomat husband in Bangkok, where he is currently posted. She immediately falls into a warm, languid lifestyle where bored wives have nothing better to do than play squash, go boating, or even better, take on new lovers. At first shy and repressed, Emmanuelle is eventually guided by a number of eager tutors to join in on the erotic freedom, and after a brief lesbian affair, she decides to join them. This is, then, the story of one woman's sexual journey to self-awareness and enlightenment.
Lionsgate presents the film in a beautifully remastered print, with two new featurettes about the film's making of, and eventual worldwide success.
Studio Canal recently acquired worldwide distribution rights for the 7 remastered
Emmanuelle feature films, including
Walerian Borowczyk's infamous
Emmanuelle 5. Here's hoping Lionsgate has more of them scheduled for US release after this one.
Is the film any good? Sure... beautiful to look at,
Emmanuelle is smart enough to poke gentle fun at it's libertine sex gurus, and at what was considered the forward thinking philosophy of the time. It's definitely sexy enough, although those expecting to be shocked might better look elsewhere. Rated X? More like an R, except perhaps that notorious scene involving a Thai stripper and her inventive use of a cigarette.
Interestingly enough, as sexual themes in commercial cinema becomes a rarity, there's a sadness knowing that we in the United States have become perhaps even more conservative since the days of
Emmanuelle's shower of kisses.
# posted by André Salas @ 10/02/2007 03:41:00 PM
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