Emmanuelle, the globe-trotting whore, returns, this time portrayed by Monique Gabrielle, playing hanky panky with a US businessman, Charles Foster(..played by the nebbish Dana Burns Westburg) with considerable power and influence(..he has a New Jersey company which makes door knobs!)and her favorite photographer, Eric(Crofton Hardester). Foster wants her to settle down with him in the States, but that would mean she'd have to give up her Paris loft and dance studio, along with the sexual depravity she so covets. Meanwhile, rather dumbly, Emmanuelle whisks off for the Middle East at the invite of a wealthy Shiek who wishes to produce a film with her, when, in actuality, he wants her as part of his harem of 50 wives! Anyway, there she's briefly imprisoned along with other American and Arab wives(..all topless and horny of course)until Eric infiltrates camp and rescues her. The version I watched includes a local protector who helps Emmanuelle reach freedom(..he communicates with Foster, and the millionaire sends in a helicopter to lift the shack she was hiding to safety).
The film is credited to Euro-cult director Walerian Borowczyk, but this never felt like a movie he'd make. Instead, it seems like someone else, maybe this Steve Barnett guy, tampered with the product, tossing in random sequences featuring Emmanuelle engaged in foreplay and soft-core sex with whoever interests her appetites. I recommend this to those who wish to see Gabrielle naked, because she has a phenomenal body and I found her ease in front of the camera intoxicating. I think she provides the right kind of performance for the ridiculous, mind-numbingly juvenile material, playing around with the persona of Emmanuelle. I grinned constantly at how she approaches the men, working them into a frenzy, like my favorite scene where she slowly disrobes for Eric when he surprises her with a visit to her office in the dance studio, or demanding Foster's coat after turning up on his boat buck naked due to the rowdy Cannes crowd stripping off her glamorous wardrobe(..this feels the most Borowczyk out of the movie I watched). The Harem portion of the film looks like it was shot on cheap studio sets, and the most hilarious part is when Emmanuelle picks up a machine gun, blasting Shiek Rajid's(Yaseen Khan)soldiers as she and her men attempt to escape his jungle. There's never a moment in the film I ever felt was played serious, you can kind of see how this fifth film in the Emmanuelle cycle was more broad farce, almost poking fun at the character and her willingness to step into problematic situations. Most will call Gabrielle's performance "awful" or "the pits", but I think she could only play the character this way for the material just can not be taken with a grain of salt. Is it a far cry from Kristel, known as the true Emmanuelle, I guess so, but Gabrielle certainly has a body to die for and we get to see plenty of it. Is this superficial smut, sure, and I never felt it tried to be anything other than what was obvious.
The film is credited to Euro-cult director Walerian Borowczyk, but this never felt like a movie he'd make. Instead, it seems like someone else, maybe this Steve Barnett guy, tampered with the product, tossing in random sequences featuring Emmanuelle engaged in foreplay and soft-core sex with whoever interests her appetites. I recommend this to those who wish to see Gabrielle naked, because she has a phenomenal body and I found her ease in front of the camera intoxicating. I think she provides the right kind of performance for the ridiculous, mind-numbingly juvenile material, playing around with the persona of Emmanuelle. I grinned constantly at how she approaches the men, working them into a frenzy, like my favorite scene where she slowly disrobes for Eric when he surprises her with a visit to her office in the dance studio, or demanding Foster's coat after turning up on his boat buck naked due to the rowdy Cannes crowd stripping off her glamorous wardrobe(..this feels the most Borowczyk out of the movie I watched). The Harem portion of the film looks like it was shot on cheap studio sets, and the most hilarious part is when Emmanuelle picks up a machine gun, blasting Shiek Rajid's(Yaseen Khan)soldiers as she and her men attempt to escape his jungle. There's never a moment in the film I ever felt was played serious, you can kind of see how this fifth film in the Emmanuelle cycle was more broad farce, almost poking fun at the character and her willingness to step into problematic situations. Most will call Gabrielle's performance "awful" or "the pits", but I think she could only play the character this way for the material just can not be taken with a grain of salt. Is it a far cry from Kristel, known as the true Emmanuelle, I guess so, but Gabrielle certainly has a body to die for and we get to see plenty of it. Is this superficial smut, sure, and I never felt it tried to be anything other than what was obvious.