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57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The original Emmanuelle, and the best, August 24, 2004
This review is from: The Emmanuelle Collection (Emmanuelle / Emmanuelle 2 / Good-bye Emmanuelle) (DVD)
This boxed set presents the three original Emmanuelle movies, the ones starring Sylvia Kristel. There were lots of imitators, most ranging from bad to worse and beyond. At the time of the first Emmanuelle, though none of that had yet happened - please hold that happy thought. Perhaps these three aren't high art, but they're generally good entertainment for adults. They are also so different from each other that they deserve to be reviewed individually, not as a lump.
* Emmanuelle: Back in the 70s, this was a groundbreaking movie. It was openly erotic, and openly meant for the general public. I'll leave the social commentary to others. For me, it's just a beautiful movie. It's set in beautiful tropical locations. It stars beautiful actresses, back before implants were part of the uniform. Most of all, it shows beautiful (if artificial) exchanges of physical affection between Emmanuelle and just about everyone, man and woman.
Still, there were a few things about this movie that I didn't care for. It usually depicts Emmanuelle as a passive figure, to be led and acted upon. I prefer the stronger character in the sequel. Later parts of the movie depict coercion, something I really don't care for. The haughty poseur at the end was annoying, but distantly true to the book. Still, book fans shouldn't get their hopes up. This movie is its own creature, and pleasant enough if taken on its own terms.
* Emmanuelle 2: The best of the bunch, I think. This is a warmly sensuous film. This might even be the one to use for introducing a shy viewer to movies about physical happiness. Emmanuelle is fully her own woman - every scene lies well within her consent and enjoyment. A new character, Anna Maria, is a sweet, innocent young thing. Emmanuelle, of course, broaches that innocence in an elegantly filmed sequence of encounters. A few scenes, like the infamous "Jade Club", come across as crude, but only when meant to. Still, they don't seem threatening. That's another aspect of this film that I like better than the first.
It's too much to say that this movie has a plot, but it does have a story line of sorts. The movie is really just about happy eroticism, though, the kind that relies more on your imagination than on actual imagery. It's sort of like a musical where I come out humming the tunes even if I can't remember the words. Couples might like this movie, even bashful couples, and might like playing along with the actors on screen.
* Goodbye Emmanuelle: This is the third and last of Kristel's Emmanuelle movies, but don't hold her responsible. The backer had run into censorship problems with the second movie, and wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. The result is a disappointing attempt at being serious. It completely lacks the warm mood and physicality of the two earlier efforts. Even the background music has a very different style, one that I found far less successful in framing the visuals and dialog.
It tries to show Emmanuelle and husband Jean growing into a more stable, monogamous relationship. Instead, it just descends into petty jealousies and possessiveness. Jean, especially, pulls tricks that would have seemed silly even in high school. Perhaps the movie meant to show swelling affection and bruised feelings. Instead, it just showed swollen egos and bruised pride.
//wiredweird
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An evolution in character, June 8, 2004
This review is from: The Emmanuelle Collection (Emmanuelle / Emmanuelle 2 / Good-bye Emmanuelle) (DVD)
Although I've had the first two Emmanuelle films on VHS for several years, I didn't see Goodbye Emmanuelle until just recently, after watching the complete Emmanuelle Collection sequentially. What struck me about the series is the evolution of, or changes in, Emmanuelle's character. Emmanuelle: Here, she is something of an ingenue. The scene where she puts on boyish expressions corresponding to different ways of wearing a baseball hat expresses the charm of her (relative) innocence. This is my second favorite in the series. Emmanuelle l'Anti-Vierge: [How the "Anti-Virgin" subtitle was translated into "Joys of a Woman" is beyond me!] This is my favorite of the three films. Very, very erotic! A good story well directed. Great music. Great script. Wonderfully acted. It's a miracle this film is able to get in so much erotica and yet make it all seem so natural and plausible. I love Sylvia Kristel in this film. It's the only one in which she has long hair. And her character is absolutely seductive in every way. Also, she is given quite a few comic-ironic zingers which I anticipate and relish with every viewing. When a woman with whom her husband has made love in the sea (Emmanuelle complains that for her, it's just the bathtub or swimming pool!) comments on the performance of some Asian fan dancers, qualifying the dance as "erotique," Emmanuelle responds sarcastically, "Aquatique." But she'll get a chance to mate like (cold) fish in her next film, Goodbye Emmanuelle. In this film, Emmanuelle is very wise to the world, and her cynical maturity makes her a very interesting character to watch. Goodbye Emmanuelle: Having just watched it for the first time, I must say that it is my least favorite. Jean (played again by Umberto Orsini)is not as charming as he was in the second film, and Emmanuelle is either troubled, sad, rebellious, or angry. Her emotional range is broader, and she shows her acting skills very well, but her character is just not very likeable here. The film has few sex scenes compared to the previous ones. And while more total frontal nudity (including brief flashes of male frontal nudity) is on display when the plot comes around to the sex, there is just nothing erotic happening anywhere in this film. The film should have been called Emmanuelle l'Anti-Erotique. The cold matter-of-factness of the nudity along with Emmanuelle's negative moodiness just saps any fun from this last official outing. What saves the film, and prevents me from lowering the overall grade of the collection, is the solid acting (but, alas, no memorable lines), true character development (even if it's not in the direction I would have preferred), and some great Seychelles locations. Goodbye Emmanuelle does offer a (sad, but perhaps inevitble) resolution to the "free couple" philosophy that Jean espoused from day one. Sylvia Kristel signed for three films. Forget about her brief apearance in Emmanuelle 4, or whatever the actual French title is. I saw it once, and hated it. And forget about her bookend appearances in later Emannuelle offerings. The Emmanuelle Collection is a true trilogy. And what makes it a trilogy is the evolution of Emmanuelle's character. Had this series been made in Hollywood, Emmanuelle would have no doubt reconciled with Jean, and they would have become strictly monogamous, living happily ever after. The French, instead, opt for a moral lesson. Be careful what philosophy you preach. It may just bite you in the derriere. I'm not aware of any other soft core erotic trilogy where a central character actually evolves. I believe this is what sets these films apart from what I imagine to be the rest. Finally, I've read a few reviews elsewhere on the internet emphasizing that the Emmanuelle movies are somewhat erotically tame by today's standards. I can't really say. But the lasting popularity of this trilogy seems to attest to my supposition that some of us prefer it a bit tame. Eroticism is not so much about sexual explicitness. It's more about the characters involved, what you sense they are feeling (physically and emotionally), and what you don't see but must instead imagine. Some of us don't want material that is too explicit and exploitative. Based on my somewhat limited familiarity with erotic films (I do have, for example, L'Histoire d'O and Red Shoe Diaries), Emmanuelle l'Anti-Vierge is erotica cooked up just right. The perfect blend. And since I care about the title character, this is, for my money, the best erotic film series.
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62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Emmanuelle Collection is totally cut!, September 19, 2006
This review is from: The Emmanuelle Collection (Emmanuelle / Emmanuelle 2 / Good-bye Emmanuelle) (DVD)
I recently bought the "Emmanuelle Collection" for nearly $100 and what a disappointment! According to the totally false advertising in the "Editorial reviews" these movies are presented complete and uncut. This is so not true. All three movies are cut, but Emmanuelle 2, the Joys of a Woman, generally regarded as the best of the series, is literally butchered! Everything from the keyhole anime sequence to the incredibly beautiful bathouse sequence is cut to shreds. In particular, the bathhouse scene, a masterpiece of gentle sensuality, is completely obliterated in this butcher's cut. Generally speaking, most of the eroticism in all three famous erotic films (and I love these films, and saw them uncut in the theater, and own Emmanuelle 2 uncut on laser disc) has been destroyed by someone who cut the films (and someone who particularly hates sensual scenes of women together). These films are valueless, as their essential appeal as erotic viewing is gone. This is a total ripoff and the claim of being uncut is a total lie, as I can prove to anyone who wants to fire up my laser player, or who has any kind of memory of how beautiful these films used to be before someone took big scissors to them. Don't buy!!
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