Emanuelle is a photographer that heads to Bangkok where she sees the sights and beds down everyone in sight. Eventually, she is gang raped as a result of some political intrigue, so she flees to Casablanca. There she beds down many more (including a bizarre gangbang) and falls in love with a woman. Eventually, Emanuelle must leave for her next assignment, leaving love behind.
This is basically a travelogue intercut with soft-core sex scenes. While Emanuelle is in Bangkok the filmmakers manage to work in some genuinely amusing moments (an obnoxious American couple are among them) that keep things reasonably interesting. The soapy massage scene early on is also the most genuinely erotic moment in the film; in most of the other scenes the performers seem a bit disinterested. On the other hand, that the film treats a woman popping ping-pong balls out of her vagina as erotic is unintentionally hilarious.
The film goes jarringly south with the ridiculous gang rape scene - depicted as just another ho-hum occurrence to Emanuelle. It's a jarring slice of misogyny in a movie about a woman exploring her freedom and sexual agency. When the film moves to Casablanca after this sour moment, the film completely loses its sense of humor and ends up being a series of scenes of gratuitous nudity mixed with bland melodrama and weakly motivated character turns.
The filmmaking by Joe D'Amato is workmanlike, if occasionally incompetent. The music is silly fun and definitely a plus. While a cut above most films of this ilk, it still doesn't feature enough interesting material to make it worth a recommendation.
The film goes jarringly south with the ridiculous gang rape scene - depicted as just another ho-hum occurrence to Emanuelle. It's a jarring slice of misogyny in a movie about a woman exploring her freedom and sexual agency. When the film moves to Casablanca after this sour moment, the film completely loses its sense of humor and ends up being a series of scenes of gratuitous nudity mixed with bland melodrama and weakly motivated character turns.
The filmmaking by Joe D'Amato is workmanlike, if occasionally incompetent. The music is silly fun and definitely a plus. While a cut above most films of this ilk, it still doesn't feature enough interesting material to make it worth a recommendation.
Screened on DVD.
Reviewing the Skinemax classics, eh? The best one from this series in my opinion is EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree: the Nico Fidenco soundtracks play a key role in the charm of this series. I've even collected them on CD!
I'll check it out. Trying to make an effort to mix in some off-the-beaten path stuff. I have the Andy Sidaris films on DVD somewhere around here so you can be confident this won't be the last Skinemax classic to get a review here.
DeleteDon, do you know if this one (or which one) has a guy taking Emmanuelle in a dark foyer, saying: "You take too many fuckin' baths!" I always remember that from when I was a young lad at my friends' houses on Friday nights. That scene always tickled me.
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