Emmanuelle

This is a decidedly darker take in style and substance than the original. The cinematography is darker; where the original was mostly outdoors in the lush yellow sunshine of Bangkok, this version is all shadows and dark interiors. The characters are darker, too, more silent and secretive.

Noémie Merlant, while lovely, is sharper and more angular than Sylvia Kristel, and lacking in Kristel's pure, innocent beauty. She tends to play the part much less open and expressive, adding to the mystery.

The secondary and peripheral characters are mostly undeveloped. Naomi Watts is totally wasted in a very minor role, and no one else seems up to the task of becoming an important part of the story. This version also lacks the other beautiful bodies that populated the original. The nudity, such as it is, is far less copious and quite a bit less explicit, making the sexuality of the character almost a sidelight of her personality, rather than an important feature of the story.

For my taste, there's a whole lot more to like in the original, from Sylvia Kristel's stunning beauty, to the lush tropical scenery, to the beautiful bodies filling so many of the scenes. If you aren't going to make it better, why bother to remake it?

Why did this production come into being?

I read the books when they were written and, I saw the movies in Ireland, when censorship was rampent.

Whomever came up with the idea of bringing the stories into the 21st century, should never be involved in cinematopraghy, ever again.

They denigrated the books, the movies, and the memory of Sylvia Krystel. I am so very surprised that Namoi Watts would lend herself to this travesty.

The books were erotic for the '70's, and were ripe for European art movies, which were not always available to us Irish "children".

I read all the books, saw all the movies, and this is a disgrace. Even the Black Emmanual movies that were later produced, are better than this piece of crap.

Avoid, Avoid, Avoid.

Aesthetically gorgeous. Apart from that, the script is almost laughable, and dialogs even more. No action, no word is believable, hence disconnected from the audience. I'm not quite sure what has been done to the sound, was every line redone post-production? It ends up being very flat and takes away the spice you would expect from such a great actress as Noemie Merlant. On this note, the entire cast is impressive for giving their very best to an empty shell.

A dozen people left the room during the movie, first one after 10 minutes. I myself fought to stay, out of respect for the cast and crew (Naomi Watts is such a good actress) and for Cinema itself. I hardly managed. The end brings nothing. I left running, quite concerned that a 2024 version of a famously erotic name had been stamped on a movie that reflects in no way the evolution of feminism, and women's pleasure, since 1974.

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.

Too scary for Emmanuelle. Rating is overrated, I give it a 2*. 36-year-old actress. Kristel was 21-22 at the time of the first movie. I won't talk about attractiveness, it's a matter of taste, but at least you could have picked someone closer in type for the plot. "It used to be better"? I guess so.

The casting is as lame as possible. All attempts to shoot "by the book" after that are useless about completely. Absolutely. The image of Emmanuelle is not formed in any way. Of course, a new movie production of a beautiful novel has long been relevant. But something like this is better not to be filmed at all. Better nothing than this bad.