Emmanuelle

"Emmanuelle 2024" is a deeply disappointing film that fails to deliver on every level. The plot is painfully slow and directionless, leaving the viewer struggling to find meaning or purpose in the story. Events seem to happen without any coherence or build-up, making it hard to stay invested. The acting is lackluster, with performances that feel uninspired and disconnected. Dialogue is riddled with clichés, adding to the overall sense of mediocrity. Even the visuals, which could have been a saving grace, feel uninspired and fail to make a lasting impression. Watching this movie felt like a complete waste of time and money. I would not recommend it to anyone seeking an engaging or meaningful experience at the cinema.

What an embarassment to the Emmannuelle collection of movies throughout history.

Anyone who has ever watched an Emmanuelle movie knows that it is about sensuality and eroticness above all.

This movie was filmed like it was some new advertisement for a women's perfume. Make of that what you will.

The biggest sin of all is the main casting. Unfortunately, Noémie Merlant while appears sexy and sultry at first, she just doesn't have the physical beauty to live up to the legendary Silvia Kristel.

The movie becomes more and more drab and boring as each scene comes and goes without much excitement.

Overall, for fans of T n A, this was also a colossal disappointment.

How the director who made Happening (2021), a great and tense French movie with strong directing and writing, comes next with a pretentious and tedious experience with Emmanuelle is baffling to me.

Emmanuelle is based on the French erotic series that has a famous reception from the past due to its erotic nature and style. Erotic films are challenging especially trying to combine story, character and sexual themes together without feeling tedious. It has worked but this movie, simply doesn't.

Despite some great camerawork and production designs throughout, unfortunately, it's pointless narrative and characters with barely depth or development makes it a tedious and unwilling experience. Many of the erotic moments and direction felt aimless and messy, which makes more of a bore rather then investment.

The performances from Noémie Merlant and Naomi Watts are trying. I love both of these actresses but they are stuck with a script that fails to give them really anything. I have to believe Watts must have a really bad agent because her talents have been wasted with bad movies these past years. Cause it's a shame since she deserves so much better.

With laughable dialogue and poor structure, it makes a miserable experience.

Emmanuelle (1974) is legendary. Not in any way because the Just Jaeckin classic is an amazing movie, but because it became widely known for two main things:

1) The boundary pushing eroticism of an adventurous woman seeking sexual emancipation/discovery.

2) Sylvia Kristel, a then 22 year-old, who became an icon of perfect beauty.

Although I have never been a fan of remakes, Emmanualle lends itself well to a reimaging simply because sexual attitudes change over time and the original is now over 50 years old.

Emmanuelle (2024) is actually better than I was expecting. The cinematography is especially beautiful, and the tone rather stylish. Noémie Merlant is elegant, somewhat similar looking to a young Phoebe Waller-Bridge, yet her breasts are just as equally voluptuous as that of Kristel's.

Does the movie push the boundaries of today as the '74 classic once did? No, and although it could have well done this, Emmanuelle conciously refrains from drifting into being a piece of generic sleaze by limiting the nudity/sex to where it feels appropriate. Emmanuelle's journey to sexual enlightenment could have had a clearer narrative however.

The addition of Naomi Watts was a rather delightful piece of casting, but regretfully she does not partake in any sexy shenanigans.

Overall, Emmanuelle '24 is a nice enough update. Yet it won't be a significant title 50 years from now or topple the original's reputation.

The good: beautiful locations, often great cinematography and the film mostly has a great atmosphere (reminded me a bit of Lost in Translation). For its style alone, I'd give it a 7/10

The rest however is pretty bad. No character depth or development, pointless and often involuntarily funny dialogue, which makes the scenes that are supposed to be erotic quite dull And also: hardly any story

If you're looking for a stylishly made movie with no substance that gives you a good laugh from time to time because of its ridiculous dialogue and logic, then you'll at least be entertained.

But from a holistic point of view, I can't give it more than 4/10.