Emmanuelle 5
Encyclopedia
Overview
In 1985, ASP films (owner of the EmmanuelleEmmanuelle
Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French softcore erotic movies based on a character created by Emmanuelle Arsan in the novel Emmanuelle...
franchise since the first official feature) approached Polish director Borowczyk (known for his heavily erotic art films) to helm the latest Emmanuelle feature, and he accepted, intrigued by the idea of giving a new spin to the series and character. "She is free, without prejudice, and she has confidence in herself" he told France's "Cinema" magazine in the April 87 issue. Once in production, however, he was to be in conflict with his producers; first over the casting of his lead actress, and later for his abstract imagery and script.
Emmanuelle 5 clocks in at a brief 85 minutes, after the director himself sheared the film of several scenes of dialog and exposition, preferring to lay voice-overs to scenes of erotic visual montages. Shot in English sync-sound, it also features the first American actress to play the Emmanuelle character. The film shoot took place on location in Paris, Cannes, and the island of Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
from May 26 to July 19 in the year 1986.
French distributor AAA gave Emmanuelle 5 a strong push in print ads and promotional posters, all touting filmgoers with the Borowczyk name. A series of six different styles of poster were designed by artist Léo Kouper. The posters all bore different quotes from writer Emmanuelle Arsan
Emmanuelle Arsan
Emmanuelle Arsan, the pen name of Marayat Rollet-Andriane, born in 1932 as Marayat Bibidh, is a French novelist of Eurasian origin, most famous for creating the fictional character Emmanuelle, a woman who engages in an exploration of her own sexuality under varying circumstances.Arsan was born in...
, endorsing the work of Borowczyk.
Amidst critiques to Emmanuelle 5, there were also rumors Borowczyk didn't actually direct anything but the "film within a film" Love Express sequence. This was mostly because he utilized a series of assistant directors for certain exteriors, namely the Cannes and Middle-Eastern segments. The film, however, contains his trademark lighting, the handwritten notes and drawings, themes of censorship and hypocrisy.
Despite the critical backlash, Emmanuelle 5 did well in France, staying in theaters for 26 weeks, and spawning yet another theatrical sequel.
Plot
Emmanuelle (played by Monique GabrielleMonique Gabrielle
Monique Gabrielle is an American model and actress.Gabrielle was the Penthouse Pet of the Month for December 1982 and appeared in Bachelor Party in 1984. Since then, she has had a career as a B-movie actress. Many of Gabrielle's films have had overtly erotic overtones...
) is a free-spirited woman who makes erotic arthouse films and runs a dance studio out of her loft in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
The movie opens with a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is a television series that aired in syndication from 1984 to 1995. The show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes and business moguls....
" style montage of Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, with a documentary-like narration giving us an overview of the famous film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
held there every year. A film within a film, the sequence shows Emmanuelle premiering her latest film, Love Express, in Cannes, causing a scandal in the process. Later, she defends her film at a press conference to reporters who accuse her of creating pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
.
After the Q&A, Emmanuelle's producer introduces her to Prince Rajid, a wealthy despot
Despotism
Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group, as in an oligarchy...
who owns the fictional Arab country of Benglagistan. He is apparently obsessed with Emmanuelle and wants to premiere the film in his homeland.
Outside, a throng of male fans awaits Emmanuelle, all desperate for a touch of the famed beauty. Things quickly escalate and the mob strips her of every last article of clothing, sending her jumping onto a stranger's departing boat for safety. Her unwitting saviour is Charles D. Foster, a young millionaire who disapproves of Emmanuelle's erotic films. The couple quickly fall in love after a night of exciting sex on his yacht.
After an argument with the concerned Foster, Emmanuelle travels to Benglagistan to promote her film, and meets Eddie, an Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
style danger-seeker who befriends her. Prince Rajid kidnaps her for his harem and decides to make her one of his 50 wives. Eddie helps her escape, and together they run into the jungle. Charles send an army helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
to help Emmanuelle. Eddie dies in the shootout but she escapes with the helicopter.
Emmanuelle joins Charles D. Foster on a midnight plane ride where they drink champagne and make love. The plane quickly falters and crashes into the mountains near Las Vegas. After being rescued and returning home to mourn her dead lover, she receives a note and flowers and realizes Foster is alive and loves only her.
Versions
There are at least three versions:- The theatrical European version (also dubbed into French, Italian and German), known as "the Borowczyk" version.
- The US version, including new scenes produced by Roger CormanRoger CormanRoger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
, and directed by Steve Barnett. Members of the original cast, as well as new actors, were brought to Los Angeles a year later to shoot the additional footage. This version was completed in 1987, and also utilizes Borowczyk's out-takes. The new scenes are quite different from the traditional European style that people expect from Emmanuelle films, and are more in the vein of 80s sex-comedy in the style of Bachelor Party (movie). The attempt was to give the story more cohesion, and tighten the pacing, making it more commercial. No final film print edit was done, it was all put together on 3/4 video with a series of fade-ins and bleeds. After a few years, Corman's New Horizon imprint opted for a home video release in 1992, only available in a full-screen transfer. It never screened theatrically. Available on New Horizons DVD in the US.
- The French home video version, including hard-core sex scenes that don't feature any of the principal cast. This version is trimmed of several minutes of footage found in the theatrical European version. Released in France by Carrere Video on VHS, dubbed. Out of print, never released on DVD in an uncut form. Released in 2006 by Lionsgate UK on DVD (In a cut version removing all hardcore footage), fullscreen. Also available in Greece from Arcadia Digital, in a widescreen, letterboxed version.
Score
French popstar Pierre BacheletPierre Bachelet
Pierre Bachelet was a French singer-songwriter with a gentle romantic voice.Bachelet spent part of his childhood in Calais and developed a lifelong appreciation of the North of France, which inspired his hit song "Les corons" .His other hit songs include "Elle est d'ailleurs" , "Écris-moi" ,...
returns to score his second Emmanuelle film, following his hugely successful soundtrack for the debut feature film in 1974.
The Emmanuelle 5 soundtrack is more lush Europop, this time featuring 80s style synth in addition to the guitars and vocals (by Sandy Stevenson and Bachelet himself). There are also exotic middle-Eastern sounding tracks, in keeping with the film's harem sub-plot.
It was never released on LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
or CD, unusual for a Bachelet score. It remains highly coveted by his fans, and those of the Emmanuelle franchise.
Trivia
Erroneously referred to as Emmanuelle V on sites such as IMDB, although the original theatrical promo posters (French, German, UK, Italian, Turkish and American) all call it Emmanuelle 5. Subsequent video/DVD releases also call it Emmanuelle 5. The opening credits read Emmanuelle 5, in the trademark curling script font that has been used for the logo since 1974.See also
- EmmanuelleEmmanuelle (film)Emmanuelle is a 1974 French softcore erotic film, directed by Just Jaeckin, and starring Sylvia Kristel. The screenplay was written by Jean-Louis Richard, based on the novel Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman by Emmanuelle Arsan. The music score is by Pierre Bachelet. The film was highly successful in...
(1974) - Emmanuelle 2Emmanuelle 2Emmanuelle 2 is a 1975 French softcore erotica movie directed by Francis Giacobetti, and starring Sylvia Kristel. The screenplay was written by Bob Elia and Francis Giacobetti, based on novel Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman by Emmanuelle Arsan...
(1975) - Goodbye EmmanuelleGoodbye EmmanuelleGoodbye Emmanuelle is a 1977 French softcore erotica movie directed by François Leterrier, and starring Sylvia Kristel. The music score is by Serge Gainsbourg...
(1977) - Emmanuelle 4Emmanuelle 4Emmanuelle 4 is the fourth official theatrical feature film in the Emmanuelle franchise. Sylvia Kristel returns in this strange blend of sci-fi and erotic romance, playing herself, and handing over the role of Emmanuelle to Mia Nygren.- Plot :...
(1984) - Emmanuelle 6Emmanuelle 6Emmanuelle 6 is a 1988 French softcore erotica movie directed by Bruno Zincone, and starring by Natalie Uher. The screenplay was written by cult erotic horror specialist Jean Rollin, based on the novel Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman by Emmanuelle Arsan. The filming location was Venezuela...
(1988) - Emmanuelle 7Emmanuelle 7Emmanuelle 7 is a 1992 French softcore erotic movie directed by Francis Leroi, and starring Sylvia Kristel. The screenplay was written by Francis Leroi and Jean-Marc Vasseur...
(1992)