opened in the early 1970s with Deep Throat and its porno chic successors, many 
thought the days of soft erotica exemplified by the likes of Brigitte Bardot were history. However, those naysayers were proven wrong with the release of Emmanuelle, a surprise smash hit that broke box office records in France, became an enormous hit in the U.S. thanks to a canny marketing campaign from Columbia (“X was never like this!”), and solidified the career of Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel as a late night viewing mainstay for decades to come. As with predecessors like I Am Curious (Yellow) and Last Tango In Paris, the combination of publicity hype and (relative) critical approval resulted in lots of buzz with this particular film inspiring the feel of mainstream-friendly erotica well into the '90s "Skinemax" era. Viewers also got numerous subsequent official sequels (some involving Kristel, some not), a cable TV show, a very sleepy 2024 remake, parodies, and unauthorized knock-offs, most notably the Black Emanuelle films with Laura Gemser.
to perfection in his 
superior The Story of O, The Last Romantic Lover, Madame Claude, and Gwendoline. Coupled with exotic Thai locales, an iconic soundtrack that made a star out of singer-composer Pierre Bachelet, and Kristel’s casual carnal displays, the film is intoxicating enough on its own terms but, being the first of its kind, was soon surpassed by more accomplished successors. For newcomers to the very slim storyline, Emmanuelle (Kristel) heads to Bangkok to be with her husband, Jean (Sarky); their lopsided open marriage allows him to dally with other women during his business ventures, but it takes Emmanuelle a bit more prodding to finally explore the ways of the flesh. She dabbled with their blonde friend and Paul Newman fan Marie-Ange (Boisson), which leads to trysts with men and women in the area including an intense relationship with Bee (Green) and an ultimately manipulative one with the much older Mario (Cuny).
memorable variety of set pieces. With longer hair, Kristel looks astonishing here and projects a confidence that’s hard to resist. Of course, the whole innocent-girl-gone-bad angle from the first film is gone, which may account for the reasons some folks prefer 
the initial installment. Here Emmanuelle goes to visit Jean in Hong Kong after a long absence and is intrigued by the arrival of Christopher (Lagache), a young pilot who accompanies her for an erotic acupuncture session. Jean’s girlfriend, Anna-Maria (Rivet), wants in on the action, too, so the three all go for a group massage involving Laura Gemser herself.
singing the memorable theme song.
the Seychelles, where film director Grégory (Bouvier) catches Emmanuelle’s eye and triggers a jealous fit in the not-quite-as-open Jean (Orsini again). Basically a soap opera-style love triangle, the film features some lengthy sessions between Emmanuelle and her new beau on the beach, but otherwise it’s pretty talky and fairly downbeat. At least the locations look stunning, and thankfully the decision to film in scope from the second film was carried over here to striking effect. The film also benefits from the most famous composer of them all, legendary bad boy Serge Gainsbourg (at the cusp of his crazy reggae phase), who teams up with frequent partner Jane Birkin for the infectious theme song.
Housed in a fold-out package, each of the three discs contains a generous poster and stills gallery as well as a Kristel bio. Disc one contains “The Joys of Emmanuelle,” a 17-minute featurette in which Kristel (during her later career as a a successful gallery owner) discussing the film along with Jaeckin and producer Yves Rousset-Rouard. They focus mainly on the 
cultural significance of the film and its effect on their careers and financial situations. Jaeckin drops out from the other two discs, which continue with featurettes (9m7s and 9 minutes) explaining the evolution of the series and what necessitated its conclusion with the third film, at least until the bizarre offshoots started turning up. Each disc also contains a theatrical trailer, while the second and third film throw in radio spots as well. When the Anchor Bay version went out of circulation, StudioCanal issued the trio in several different countries on Blu-ray with nice transfers along with French, English, and Spanish audio. Extras include the trailer, a fun Jaeckin/Rousset-Rouard interview (31m37s) called "Talking About Emmanuelle," and the 54-minute “An Erotic Success,” with both men and a slew of critics discussing the film’s release and censorship history as well as its cultural influence. A U.S. DVD reissue from Lionsgate features the same earlier transfer as the Anchor Bay release and has the “An Erotic Success” doc as well as a different half-hour featurette, and “Soft Sell” about the film’s distribution in America. In 2019, Kino Lorber issued the films on Blu-ray and DVD featuring the same StudioCanal-sourced transfers with English and French 
audio with English subtitles, plus the three making-of Anchor Bay featurettes, the U.S. trailer for the first film, the "Talking About Emmanuelle" featurette, French teaser and standard 
trailers and the U.S. trailer for the second (plus radio spots), and two trailers and four radio spots for the third film. 
trailers and “The Joys of Emmanuelle, Part 1” are ported over here (but not the director-producer chat from the Kino), while many new extras are added as well. In “A Slightly Scandalous Character” (21m35s), Green recalls her path to becoming an actress despite wanting to be a dancer thanks to the involvement of Robert Bresson and how she ended up appearing in this film which exploded in public awareness more than she expected. In “Producing Emmanuelle” (29m51s), Rousset-Rouard 
covers his own career starting in commercials and moving to vast success with this film and its successors. In “Filming Emmanuelle” (16m19s), Fraisse recalls his own experience as a cinematographer and camera operator, working to support newcomer Richard Suzuki as director of photography, the major shifts in industry practices since then especially since the advent of the Steadicam, and enjoying shooting in Thailand for the first time. In “Fabric & Fantasy: Costume As Character Development” (14m6s), fashion and costume historian Elissa Rose explores the use of color and style changing between the films as well as perceptive observations about the influence of Hollywood Pre-Code films and the myriad cultures at play in the stories charting the character’s sexual progression. In “The Channel” (14m9s), actress Liane Curtis discusses the work of her mother, dubbing artist Paulette Rubinstein (who graced many Japanese, Italian, and French productions), whose career spanned from Broadway to film work to voicing characters like this who changed the world. Oh, and Liane’s dad was Jack Curtis, the man who brought you The Flesh Eaters. Also included on the first Blu-ray is a press interview with Rollet-Andriane (2m6s) on the set of The Sand Pebbles, while a second Blu-ray features an additional 
slate of extras. In “Signed, Emmanuelle Arsan” (40m37s), author Camille Moreau (Emmanuelle Arsan: Biography of a Pseudonym) delivers an extensive, fascinating overview of the origins of the pen name, the real woman’s life and relationship to her “creation,” and the many differences between the fact and fiction including the history of her marriage. Then you get an archival interview with Jaeckin for FILMO TV (94m17s) covering 
his entire career, Alex Cox’s then-revolutionary A Hard Look documentary from 2000 (47m43s) about the Emmanuelle phenomenon featuring interviews with many of the major participants (Kristel, Gemser, Jaeckin, etc.), and “Emmanuelle In Ontario” (13m34s), a video essay by Eric Veillette about the film’s tumultuous history with Canadian censors.
and wildly candid audio interview with Giacobetti (20m58s) is quite a listen as he chronicles the challenges of the production and has 
little positive to say about anyone besides Orsini; he also talks about being brought in to salvage the production of the third film due to issues with director François Leterrier. In "Producing Emmanuelle 2" (10m59s), Rousset-Rouard talks about the rapid changes in censorship around that time with Salo and In the Realm of the Senses, the change in directors, and the international theatrical market for this film. In " Filming Emmanuelle 2" (12m46s), cinematographer Robert Fraisse is interviewed about working for the legendary photographer and shooting on location in Bali and Hong Kong as well as on the luxurious French sets. The intriguing "Mondo Emmanuelle: Ethnography and Softcore" (23m31s) with Dr. Jennifer Moorman takes an even-handed look at the films' portrayal of non-French cultures, the influence of Mondo Cane at the time, and the complexities of how different ethnicities are shown in sexually-oriented entertainment like this (with a particularly interesting take on the third film). Also included is a vintage set report for Swiss TV (31m35s) featuring interviews with Kristel, Giacobetti, and Rousset-Rouard back on the French set. A third disc is a 13-track soundtrack CD for Lai's score, a very welcome addition given how hard it's been to find for years unless you snapped up the pricey Japanese disc or tracked down a French vinyl copy. It's worth noting that the first film's soundtrack is not included; it's been out of circulation for years after appearing on Japanese and French CD and 
is evidently stuck in rights limbo. Likewise, the third film's soundtrack has never been on CD at all and remains stuck on vinyl only, though a few key tracks have turned up on Gainsbourg compilations in more recent years. 
with Dr. Veronica Fitzpatrick examines the Seychelles setting, the harsh critical reception, her own take on the film's attributes, the state of the character and her marriage at this point compared to the novel and first film, and the complex use of the trappings of travel and sexual liberation here. The third "Joys" featurette, French and U.S. trailers, and radio spots are also included, while the new "Beyond Emmanuelle: Sylvia Kristel's Life and Career" (27m1s) features Jeremy Richey (author Of Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle To Chabrol) and London Metropolitan University's Leila Wimmer surveys the star's life, cultural impact, and her career starting with a fascinating range of Dutch productions and going through the aftermath of her international stardom. In "Audio Erotica" (17m1s), Daniel Schweiger examines the scores for all of the films in this set as well as the surge in erotic-themed film music in general from the late '60s onward. It's a great bonus for soundtrack buffs with plenty of observations about the 
contrasting work for these films as well as the first film's most notorious musical aspect, a plagiarism lawsuit by Robert Fripp over some sonic similarities to King Crimson. 
Emmanuelle, who wanders through modern society and hooks up with a string of men she clearly despises including the upper crust Sandro (Celi) and various counterculture weirdos. There isn't much plot here with the film actually inspired by a short story called "Disintegration '60" by Graziella Di Prospero (one of the screenwriters here), though the most fascinating name behind the camera here is the director, Cesare Canevari, who had just directed A Hyena in the Safe and would go on to the notorious Gestapo's Last Orgy.
sub (both DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono) with English-translated or SDH subs. This film would actually fit far more comfortably with one of Kier-La Janisse's House of Psychotic Women sets for Severin, so it's gratifying to see her turn up here for an enthusiastic intro here (6m39s) to help calibrate your expectations. A commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas notes the challenges 
of doing criticism for a film without much info available on it and talks about Prospero and late '60s feminism, while Cenavari is represented in the interview "A Director À La Française" (14m27s) discussing his affinity for French cinema, the reaction to this film from Blanc's husband, his portrayals of women in his films, and the reason why this one stands out from the rest. In " Memoirs of Emmanuelle" (19m4s), Blanc covers her career at the time, her omnipresence on magazine covers along with many of her peers, the beauty standards of the time, her admiration for the screenwriters and costume designers, and the mechanics of doing the love scenes for this film. In the very funny " A Man for Emmanuelle" (8m22s), actor Sandro Pizzochero (who gives the film's most eccentric performance by a long shot!) converses about his career origins, his annoyance with repeated casting as drug addicts, and the piecemeal creation of this film with an unfinished script during shooting. The video essay "Protagonist and Subject" (9m53s) by Carl Elsaesser studies the film's camerawork in relation to the main character's physical movement and emotional state, followed by the archival "Concerning Emmanuelle" (8m54s) with Canevari again and the English-language trailer. The robust, profusely illustrated insert book is a major component itself featuring the essays "A Legacy of Lust" by Todd Gilchrist, Alex Cox's reflections on the second film, Camille Moreau's "Emmanuelle, Erased Threefold," Gilchrist's "The Sounds of Seduction," a Kristel interview and art gallery, and an extensive gallery of posters, stills, and magazines.EMMANUELLE: Severin (UHD)
EMMANUELLE: Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)
EMMANUELLE 2: Severin (UHD)
EMMANUELLE 2: Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)
GOOBYE EMMANUELLE: Severin (UHD)
GOOBYE EMMANUELLE : Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)
