Emilienne (1975)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Guy Casaril

Writers:

Claude Des Olbes (novel)
Eric Losfeld (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

July 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Nouky, an artist, is the mistress of Claude. To tease him she gets acquainted with his wife Emilienne...

Plot Keywords:

Lesbian Sex | Nudity | Female Nudity | Bestiality | Ménage À Trois

Cast

Betty Mars	...	Emilienne
Pierre Oudrey	...	Claude
Nathalie Guérin	...	Nouky
Marc Ariche
Noëlle Leiris
Lucienne Legrand
Françoise Dorner
Arlette Balkis
Claudine Beccarie
Françoise Bibault
Sylvaine Charlet
Raymonde Crozatier
Alice Drouhin
Suzy Gossen
Sacha Lavin
Marie Turquoise
Sonia Vareuil
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frédérique Barral	...	(uncredited)
Mandarine	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Guy Casaril

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Philippe de Jonas		writer
Claude Des Olbes		novel
Eric Losfeld		writer

Produced by
Pierre Braunberger	....	producer
André Génovès	....	producer

Original Music by
Nino Ferrer

Cinematography by
Jean Monsigny

Film Editing by
Louisette Hautecoeur

Production Companies

• Les Films de la Boétie
• Les Films du Jeudi

Distributors

• Joseph Green Pictures (1976) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Force Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Pathfinder Pictures (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Peerless Films (1976) (Canada) (dubbed)
• Vogue Video (1981) (Canada) (video) (dubbed)

Also Known As:

Emilienne & Nicole (France) (alternative title)

Runtime:

France:95 min | USA:95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:-18 | Singapore:(Banned) | Finland:(Banned) (1975) | Finland:K-18 (1976) | Norway:18 (re-rating) (2003) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Norway:(Banned) (1975-2003) (cinema release)

Company:

Les Films de la Boétie

Sister of Emmanuelle

This movie was rushed into production to cash in on the sudden and unexpected success of Just Jaeckin's EMMANUELLE, which explains the directorial presence of a hack like Guy Casaril whose biggest hit had been the slightly naughty farce LES NOVICES, pitting then reigning sex goddess Brigitte Bardot against experienced comedienne Annie Girardot.

Production values are fair (decent cinematography, fluent editing but awfully dated soundtrack full of elevator muzak) but the travelogue footage of the original it's trying to emulate is sadly missing. And yet this is still my personal favorite among that revered soft porn blockbuster's myriad cinematic siblings (and I duly apologize to lovely Laura Gemser for that statement, true though it is !), largely because of beautiful blonde anti-bimbo Betty Mars in the title role. A talented torch singer who sadly took her own life in the late 80s, she's best remembered for supplying her vocal chords to the title character otherwise played by Brigitte Ariel (whatever happened to her ?) in Casaril's biopic PIAF. Her only movie appearance 'in the flesh' (and, boy, that's no euphemism !) was here as the bisexual spouse of arts professor Claude fooling around with conniving student Nicole, 'Nouky' to her friends. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Mars attacks (sorry, couldn't resist that one) the part with such intensity, she completely overshadows the rest of the not terribly convincing cast. Her female co-star Guerin in particular is a source of irritation, her whole repertoire consisting of mugging and pouting.

Thanks to our Betty's haunted performance, sex scenes such as her discovery of the joys of Sapphic romance in the arms of a small legion of blonde and buxom Widows of the Sea (don't ask how this came about, just sit back and enjoy) end up far more stimulating than they might have been. Another aspect that puts this movie apart from most other titillation romps is its dim view of marital bliss with some of the harrowing scenes in its middle section (when the protagonists attempt a 3-way marriage with disastrous results) playing like Strindberg Lite.