Emmanuelle IV

This film is odd, but hey, it's French. The plastic surgery deal is a way to pass the baton from Sylvia Kristel to Mia Nygren, a maneuver which wouldn't really work now, and was ludicrous in 1984. The film was, however, reasonably erotic, its "raison d'etre", at least in its uncut version(~90 min.)It's worth a look to fans of the genre. Grade: C

Being a huge fan of the "Emmanuelle/Emanuelle" series, I have seen every official entry, (1 through 6.) Sexy, fun films that all possess a certain artistic quality. So what happens here? After all the steamy sexual encounters with the countless women and men, our beautiful heroine finds herself bored with her own reflection. In an effort to escape a man who she is afraid of loving, Emmanuelle has extensive plastic surgery, transforming herself, (literally) into a different woman. Actually this is a clever way to continue the series. Of course the whole premise of this film is a bit ludicrous, but undeniably, great fun to watch. Mia Nygren, the young woman who replaces Kristel, is absolutely gorgeous, and even bears a striking resemblance to the original actress. Unfotunately Nygren is utterly wooden in the role. When she tries to look sexy, she appears instead to be a woman in the throes of a seizure, making preposterous facial expressions when she is supposed to be orgasming! Emmanuelle ends up in Brazil, where she visits Rio, and San Paulo, with the tale climaxing in the steamy Amazon jungle. The sex scenes are extremely hot, and lushly filmed, and for once in the series, the men involved are as beautiful as the women, mostly dark Brazillian thugs! This one is a real fantasy that will most likely be enjoyed by women as well as men. Scenes in the rain forest, involving snakes writhing over wet bodies, lots of masturbation and voyeurism, and some scenes even border on hardcore, although none of these scenes feature the beautiful Nygren. Of course I am speaking of the Euro version, as the DVD released for North America is completely censored, omitting over 8 minutes of footage. Sylvia Kristel is actually in this fourth installment, but she doesn't play "Emmanuelle," rather she is called simply, Sylvia. It doesn't really make sense. But who cares, right? The look of the film is sleek, and the erotic scenes are nicely realised. I'm not saying this is a really good film, but for what it is, it is quite enjoyable. High production values, gorgeous cinematography, beautiful women, and men, even a memorable soundtrack. For a soft core film, this is impressive, especially compared with the cheap, shot-on-video stuff being churned out today. The fact that Emmanuelle IV is actually in 3-D makes this one even more fun, and totally bizarre. There is an impressive German DVD set containing the first 4 films of the series, all uncut versions, and it even includes 3-D glasses for Emmanuelle IV! A nice way to escape into another world for a little while.. Just remember to watch the other three first! And watch them in French. Followed by 2 more films in the series, starring different women in the title role. Though not quite as good as the first 4 entries, they are both worth a look as well.

The 4th installment of the Emmanuelle series is my least favorite one. Sylvia Kristel briefly appears at the beginning because she needed the money, then Mia Nygren continues as the new Emmanuelle ("Les deux visages d'Emmanuelle", the advertising tried in vain to find a reasonable excuse for the silly cosmetic surgery story). They simply wanted to continue the series because it was a successful brand name, though Kristel was meanwhile too old to play the innocent girl. Now Nygren is pretty on photos, but wooden on film. "Emmanuelle 4" lost the style of the first three movies rapidly, anyway. A stylistic means from the political thriller like inserting "Sao Paulo, 21st April 1983" tries to make it more realistic, but why? That just tears down the veil of magic.

The series was continued with 2 more cinema films (starring Monique Gabrielle respectively Natalie Uher); I voted 7/8/6/4/6/7 for the six movies. Unfortunately, further sequels were made in the 1990s and 2000s for cable TV and the video market. Don't waste your time with any of these.

This movie is an incredible memory for me because it may be the second adult movie i have seen when i wasn't an adult ! The first « Les Bas De Soie Noire » was in March 1987 (seen my review #00) and « Emmanuelle » is likely to have been a few weeks or month later and surely before May 1988, because it was then « Emmanuelle V ». What i remember from this time is that Mia was a stunning woman but that was a pity in the fact that she didn't get involved a lot. It was really soft and a frustration she would never do the thing with a man or a woman, especially the beautiful brunette Maria ! All the famous scenes were in addition not so hot except the samba lesbian fiesta which is one of the most erotic scene ever filmed : the tribal sound, the veiled colors, the mix of colors skins and the peeping situation is totally exciting !

After all those years, my feelings stays the same and i'm surprised it's always the same motifs that come and go in my life : Sweden, Brazil… It's true that the story is totally crap (a new body, Marc's longing) but the locations are really enchanting and call for sensuality ; i like also Emmanuelle's affirmative desire quest : The movie is centered about her, her needs and it was great to have such a point of view to start instead of the usual banging flesh !

Emmanuelle gets a new body ... this is just the first of many different (re)incarnations. Sylvia Krystel plays ... well Sylvia. Which is kind of weird and confusing. Like the whole movie. While the first three movies had a sort of coherent storyline - this seems to be on a different playing field.

There is quite a bit of nudity and the new Emmanuelle is quite pretty. All the Emmanuelles can be considered beautiful to say the least. Unfortunately that does not change a thing when it comes to the ... movie and its plot if you can call it that. There are a few more steamy scenes than in Part 3 ... but that made more sense when it came to character and other developments ... still if the movies got worse and worse ... but still made money, I should be glad the box set I aquired only has the first 4 movies in it. I would have watched all of them - I still might. But I am not getting ... my hopes up (stop snickering ... maybe)