Eroticism seen through female eyes

Released in 1974, two years after Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door paved the way for prestige erotic cinema in the United States, the French Emmanuelle became the biggest phenomenon of the genre.

Adapted from Emmanuelle Arsan's 1967 novel, the film spawned dozens of sequels and copies over the following decades and cemented Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel as a pop icon – she appeared in 11 titles in the franchise.

However, despite being a landmark in the representation of sexual freedom, the film directed by Just Jaeckin is permeated by colonialist stereotypes of Asian countries and the exploration of female pleasure under the mediation of male figures.

The new Emmanuelle, currently showing in Brazil, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the original with the ambition of re-presenting the character from a more conscious perspective. Directed by Audrey Diwan, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Happening (2021). Co-written with Rebecca Zlotowski, the film delves into the protagonist's innermost being and refutes the aesthetics of colonial eroticism—a common theme in older films.

Audrey Diwan's emotional reinterpretation focuses on a free, desire-filled body that roams the buildings and haunts of Hong Kong. This body—whose subjective emptiness the film chooses not to explore in depth—is played by Noémie Merlant, actress of Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), a landmark in narratives about desire driven by non-male gazes.

Although it centers on the wanderings of an adult and independent woman, the new Emmanuelle focuses on the protagonist's insistence on seducing Kei (Will Sharpe), a mysterious man who admits to having no sexual desire. At one point, she agrees to have sex with a stranger, while Kei watches and gives orders. Her orgasm only comes when he assumes the role of indirect conductor.

The sequence could be both an illustration of a fetish, as in Babygirl (2024), or a return to the logic of male mediation of female pleasure. It's clear that Emmanuelle embraces the contradiction between transgression and conformity, but that doesn't prevent male surveillance from persisting—albeit filmed from a different perspective.

Perhaps this fact, combined with the coldness with which the filmmaker conducts the film, explains a certain lack of interest that has surrounded Emmanuelle since its first showings last year. The late release in Brazil, almost a year after France, also says something about this. •

Published in issue no. 1371 of CartaCapital , on July 23, 2025.

This text appears in the print edition of CartaCapital under the title 'Eroticism seen through female eyes'