Emmanuelle 4 (1984)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie is an incredible memory for me because it may be the second adult movie i have seen when i wasn't an adult ! The first « Les Bas De Soie Noire » was in March 1987 (seen my review #00) and « Emmanuelle » is likely to have been a few weeks or month later and surely before May 1988, because it was then « Emmanuelle V ». What i remember from this time is that Mia was a stunning woman but that was a pity in the fact that she didn't get involved a lot. It was really soft and a frustration she would never do the thing with a man or a woman, especially the beautiful brunette Maria ! All the famous scenes were in addition not so hot except the samba lesbian fiesta which is one of the most erotic scene ever filmed : the tribal sound, the veiled colors, the mix of colors skins and the peeping situation is totally exciting ! After all those years, my feelings stays the same and i'm surprised it's always the same motifs that come and go in my life : Sweden, Brazil… It's true that the story is totally crap (a new body, Marc's longing) but the locations are really enchanting and call for sensuality ; i like also Emmanuelle's affirmative desire quest : The movie is centered about her, her needs and it was great to have such a point of view to start instead of the usual banging flesh !

This misguided attempt to revive the "official" Emmanuelle series seven years after the third entry, vainly entitled Goodbye Emmanuelle, is by turns boring, confusing and deliriously camp. The ludicrous plot has the original Emmanuelle Sylvia Kristel running to Brazil to escape a man who she has an obsessive relationship with, there undergoing some serious plastic surgery to make her 10 years younger, thus allowing Mia Nygen to take over the role. Nygen is absolutely gorgeous, though devoid of acting talent or personality. The "new" Emmanuelle takes part in various swinging sessions and orgies with a plethora of tanned men before getting back with her old lover, who doesn't realise who she is but feels oddly the same about her.The story is a load of stuff and nonsense, made even more ridiculous by the travelogue nature of the scenario (each scene is set in a different city), incessant and pretentious voice-over narration and a couple of very peculiar abstract dream (are they?) sequences in which Kristel re-appears to instruct on the best way to arouse a man - "Boys are like dough. There is a certain way of touching them that will make them rise." The sexual action is softcore (although apparently some of this was filmed as a hardcore movie), and much of it consists of a lone woman playing the voyeur to some bonking session and then giving herself a good frig. The men, being mostly fit young Brazilians, are surprisingly attractive for a straight softcore film of the era; the scene where a young horse-riding knave smacks his brother's errant girlfriend up before roughly taking new Emmanuelle to the stables is pretty hot. The most eye-popping sequence has new Emmanuelle being chased through a slum by a gang of horny youths - she grabs the "most animalistic" of them and, as he shoves her to the ground and climbs on top of her, she narrates the immortal lines "Lying on that rubbish dump, with that brute on top of me, I experienced the most intense climax of my life." You go girl! Emmanuelle 4 certainly lacks the visual splendour or philosophical and emotional nuances of the original trilogy; what's left is so off the wall and absurd that it's an absolute scream. Indefensible but, in its own way, fairly memorable. It would have been even more hilarious in its original 3D cinema release...

This film is odd, but hey, it's French. The plastic surgery deal is a way to pass the baton from Sylvia Kristel to Mia Nygren, a maneuver which wouldn't really work now, and was ludicrous in 1984. The film was, however, reasonably erotic, its "raison d'etre", at least in its uncut version(~90 min.)It's worth a look to fans of the genre. Grade: C

Oh dear. In a film series as bad as this it's hard to know where to rate it. If you like watching travel shows then this movie will be right up your street but if you're in search of a little erotic entertainment then forget it.In a desperate attempt to reinvigorate the franchise, original Emmanuelle Sylvia Kristel decides to have a spot of plastic surgery and, hey, what do you know, she ends up looking like a woman 10 years her junior. Alas, the newcomer has half as much charisma although continuity is retained by her ability to drop her clothes at the drop of a hat.Chances are you'll be watching this on video as the prospect of watching it on TV is too hideous a thought to bear so after about five minutes with your finger on the fast forward button, there's a little soft core action executed with all the passion of a director in a coma.The movie is laid out across several days in 1983. Why we need to know the dates is a mystery as this is hardly in the realms of Se7en for attention-grabbing yet episodic drama.Needless to say, all the girls present are gorgeous and most of the blokes look as ugly as sin.After a slow start, there's much kit offery for the duration and symbolism is rife for those who like that sort of thing. As the eponymous nymphomaniac takes her latest flame off into the jungle, we see a snake in the grass.Is this the garden of eden, a place of temptation or just a snake? You decide - if you can be bothered.The movie does at least boast one hilarious line of dialogue: "Women are like mud," suggests Emmy in perhaps not the greatest analogy ever heard in a movie.The music is dreadful - pure 1970 and for fans of the series, there is at least the reappearance of that famous wicker chair, an inanimate character far more endearing than any of the kit- free cast.Watch it with the sound off if you like and take in the okay scenery as this erratic rather than erotic tale unfolds. Stick a CD on and better still, have a few mates round and come up with your own dialogue.It's a lot more fun than having to put up with the poor excuse for a script on offer here.