Emilienne

Even if some relate this movie to Just Jaeckin’s 1974 Emmanuelle’s, I find that this movie has nothing to do with that movie, except that both belong to a genre that became very popular in the late ‘70s and early '80s. Instead I believe that this movie style looks like so many other tacky French or Italian movies from the same decade with similar music score, cinematography and sex scenes that were suggested and not actually shown.

This movie shows us a story about one infamous ménage-a-trois and is the excuse to show us every possible -what we today may consider as- sex cliché situations. Nothing possible is missing in this movie for the female protagonist; it even has what I can call a “Tipping the Velvet” moment.

I have to admit that I laugh a lot, as the scenes were so absurd with that awful music and the acting style that predominated in those days that was really satirically laughable. But, what happens is that since a long time ago that style was abandoned and today you end up seeing this movie out of its original context. Then, the movie was not as famous as Emmanuelle or L’Histoire d’O, so perhaps it wasn’t considered that good in those days.

As trivia I’m sharing some facts from this movie. Betty Mars that plays Emilienne was a singer more than an actress and she “gave” her voice to Brigitte Ariel in Guy Casaril 1974 Piaf film, where Ariel played Edith Piaf. In 1989 Mars committed suicide and her role here is one of only two where she was the lead actress.

Still, I recognize that is a must be seen in the genre and I just hope that some of you readers that are familiar with that French cinema era will think about it before seeing the movie then I believe you will see it with different eyes, maybe more similar to the original context when the movie was released in 1975. I wish someone has told me this and perhaps I could have imagined the era earlier that when I did and enjoyed a little bit more the movie.