Emmanuelle IV

Oh dear. In a film series as bad as this it's hard to know where to rate it. If you like watching travel shows then this movie will be right up your street but if you're in search of a little erotic entertainment then forget it.

In a desperate attempt to reinvigorate the franchise, original Emmanuelle Sylvia Kristel decides to have a spot of plastic surgery and, hey, what do you know, she ends up looking like a woman 10 years her junior. Alas, the newcomer has half as much charisma although continuity is retained by her ability to drop her clothes at the drop of a hat.

Chances are you'll be watching this on video as the prospect of watching it on TV is too hideous a thought to bear so after about five minutes with your finger on the fast forward button, there's a little soft core action executed with all the passion of a director in a coma.

The movie is laid out across several days in 1983. Why we need to know the dates is a mystery as this is hardly in the realms of Se7en for attention-grabbing yet episodic drama.

Needless to say, all the girls present are gorgeous and most of the blokes look as ugly as sin.

After a slow start, there's much kit offery for the duration and symbolism is rife for those who like that sort of thing. As the eponymous nymphomaniac takes her latest flame off into the jungle, we see a snake in the grass.

Is this the garden of eden, a place of temptation or just a snake? You decide - if you can be bothered.

The movie does at least boast one hilarious line of dialogue: "Women are like mud," suggests Emmy in perhaps not the greatest analogy ever heard in a movie.

The music is dreadful - pure 1970 and for fans of the series, there is at least the reappearance of that famous wicker chair, an inanimate character far more endearing than any of the kit- free cast.

Watch it with the sound off if you like and take in the okay scenery as this erratic rather than erotic tale unfolds. Stick a CD on and better still, have a few mates round and come up with your own dialogue.

It's a lot more fun than having to put up with the poor excuse for a script on offer here.

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

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.

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)

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.