Emmanuelle 5

Penthouse queen Monique Gabrielle stars in this low budget Andy Sidaris style 'thriller' as an actress lured to some fictional middle eastern kingdom to be a sex toy for its cruel ruler. With that plot line it had exotic (or at least lurid) potential, but the final product lacks the conviction of its cheesy exploitativeness. Even the nude scenes are boring and tame, and the whole thing looks about as authentically middle eastern as a set from Harum Scarum. What make the other Emmanuelle movies appealing is the way they drip with local color and jungly Asian atmosphere, not to mention steamy hothouse sex, and the previous installment (Emmanuelle IV) was still churning this out.

This is yet another series that went on too long. Avoid.

Well, as a small budget film, this one is SATISFACTORY.

In Deutschland, this would be referred to as "Einschlawtizen", meaning "Understandably bad due to budget restrictions".

Although not a full hearted effort, this film may please the 'duller" viewer.

Again, compared to Terminator 2, this doesn't stand 2 feet tall.

MaRX.

Let's be honest, one does not watch a movie such as this for the intellectual kind of stimulation. It is softcore porn, and is closer to that genre than film. As such, the acting is near always amateurish and unrealistic; story line ridiculous if even existent; and most importantly, its structure is segregated into sex scenes with filler space between them to fake a movie format. A good softcore movie has many great sex scenes, and somewhat entertaining if imbecile filler space. "Emmanuelle 5" has only 4 sex scenes, mere 2 of which are decent, and 1:40 of BAD filler space. These numbers mean it's poop, don't waste your time.

Emmanuelle 5 (1987)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Emmanuelle (Monique Gabrielle) is at Cannes showing off her latest film, which is bought by an Arab prince. Emmanuelle goes to his small country for the premiere but soon she is held captive by the evil ruler who won't even allow women to show their legs or touch themselves but that's not going to sit well with our star. Apparently there are three versions of this film; the original European version, an American edit and an alternate hardcore version. I watched the American edit, which features some newly shot scenes as well as outtakes from the Euro version. I've never been a huge fan of the director but I might go as far to say this is the most entertaining film I've seen from him. If you've seen any of the Emmenuelle movies, whether the original series or the Black Emanuelle movies, then you know what to expect. Gabrille isn't much of an actress but she does have a great body and shows it off enough to keep the film moving. The supporting cast includes Crofton Hardester and Dana Bruns Westburg but they don't add a whole lot to the film. The biggest problem is the studio subplot dealing with the evil ruler who won't let women be free but of course we all know this movie was made to show women naked so the political message just comes off silly and rather stupid. Apparently fans have called Borowczyk a sell out for doing this film but there's still plenty of "art" here to where he can call it his own. I doubt his die-hard fans are going to give this film too much credit so I'd say those seeking cheap nudity will be the ones to enjoy this the most.

Poor Walerian Borowczyk. Such a promising career early on as an important player in avant-garde European cinema, his talents wasted by the time this movie was made. I can understand sometimes you have to pay the bills (ask Jean Rollin) by making porn, but this could have been made better. What, you ask? Porn? Indeed. This movie seems to have several edits for the domestic and international markets. American releases have had a 77 minute "R" rated cut I believe as well as the 85 minute "unrated" edition. The French version is roughly 85 minutes but will be virtually unrecognizable to most audiences. The first 20 minutes are an extension of Emmanuelle's "Love Train" movie which we see being screened by Cannes audiences. This 20 minute sequence contains 3 pornographic sequences, which look like they were intended for another film but found their way into Emmanuelle V. (The sex toys on display are those of Borowczyk, I guess to make these scenes "arty"). After these sequences, the film continues in the same way as the American versions except for a porno sequence in the ballet school and a porno lesbian encounter at the sheik's harem (with more of Borowczyk's "personal collection"). Monique Gabrielle does not appear in any of the porno sequences, just the softcore ones. The French version has little dialogue, but really, do you care what they're saying?