Arte - Emmanuelle Queen of French Erotic Cinema (2020)

– Original title “Emmanuelle” la plus longue caresse du cinema francais“ –

In 1974, the French erotic film “Emmanuelle” broke audience records almost 350 million viewers worldwide and a twelve-year run on the Champs Elysees in Paris. Never before has rattan armchairs attracted the audience as much as in Emmanuelle, whose poster shows the pensive and distant young Dutch woman on her wooden throne. After the success of the sexually explicit Last Tango in Paris, Emmanuelle appeared at a turning point in French society The sexual emancipation following May '68 in France. In 1973, 20-year-old model Sylvia Kristel is casted in a washing machine commercial. She then went to the wrong door and her life turned upside down. She mistakenly crosses paths with Just Jaeckin, who is making a naughty film counting on the success of Last Tango in Paris. This famous fashion photographer has a flash his heroine is her, “that tall blonde!” A year later, Emmanuelle became an “event film” as the cinema had rarely seen it would bring together nearly 350 million spectators around the world and would remain on the Champs-Elysees for twelve years. Jaeckin's movie was a phenomenon in France, an X-rated hit in America, and banned in some countries; the “Emmanuelle” brand extended to wicker chairs after one racy scene in particular, and led to an avalanche of official and unauthorized sequels over the next several years. Tinted with chic and aesthetic eroticism, the film is the adaptation of a sulphurous tale, sold under wraps, and written under the pseudonym of Emmanuelle Arsan, a wife, it is said, of a diplomat who initiated her into debauchery. Emmanuelle rhymed with sexual liberation, in time of this post-May 68 France in search of emancipation and liberation of the body. Ready for all experiences, the Dutch Sylvia Kristel becomes the emblem of the liberated … French woman, a true sexual icon. Her career was of course vampirized by this bewitching role which she will never completely abandon, having “Freed women by imprisoning themselves forever”. “I'm quite modest. Before the nude scenes, I have a few beers and the embarrassment goes away.” It is the story of a triumph for which, from the cunning producer (Yves Rousset-Rouard) to the prudish director through the shy lead actress, no one was prepared. Clelia Cohen's documentary paints an entertaining and contextualized portrait, recalling that Emmanuelle opened some breaches in a world still constrained by morality and religion. Excerpts, archives and memories of the film crew, but also counterpoints by the author Marc Gaudin, the historian Christine Bard or the stylist Vanessa Bruno further expand the gaze on this revolutionary epic … for consenting adults. From this triumph, Sylvia Kristel will never escape the image that will stick to her skin, while making her the emblem of the liberated woman of the 70s, thanks to a strangely cheeky undressed role.

A Film by Clelia Cohen ; ITV Studios France and ARTE G.E.I.E Co-Production

Full Version Available Upon Request
Related Documentary