Displaying items by tag: Anthony Chau Sang Wong

EMMANUELLE

France/US, 2024, 107 minutes, Colour.

Noemie Merlant, Will Sharpe, Naomi Watts, Jamie Campbell Bower, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Chacha Huang.

Directed by Audrey Diwan.

There have been many films which derive from 1959 novel Emmanuelle, by Emanuel Arsnn (a name for a French/Thai actress and the suggestion made that the novel was written by her husband).

In the 1970s, the first film version, starring a young Sylvia Kristel, raised a lot of controversy, issues of sexuality and sensuality, a woman’s sexuality and sensuality, backgrounds of morality and amorality, and an attempt to break through expectations of censorship in the 1960s and 1970s. For many audiences, it was seen as a welcome liberation from previously moralistic imposed regulations.

Quite a number of other films, which derive from the original, tended often towards exploitation.

Critics and many of the audiences and bloggers, have taken a very negative view towards this film, considering it boring, too restrained in this depiction of sexuality and sensuality, a focus more on words in conversation rather than sexual activity and pleasure. And, certainly, there is a great deal of focus on words, on the encounter with the central character and lengthy exploratory conversations.

And, the criticism, that no Noemie Merlant, an actress with considerable reputation, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Tar, Lee, in her mid-30s is far too old for the role, especially in comparison with Sylvia Kristel in her early 20s.

However, some critics make the case for the film, highlighting that 2024 is half a century on from 1974 and the original film, the presentation of sexuality and sensuality on screen has moved considerably from that time, what is permitted in the mainstream, what is relegated to pornography. There may have been a great deal of daring in the 1970s, not necessary in the 2020s, more straightforward presentation for an audience more accustomed to seeing presentations of sexual activity and reflecting on the human, the psychological aspects of sexuality.

Another commentary suggests that, in fact, Emmanuelle is, of course, the central character, but all the rest of the characters are aspects of her personality, through which in terms of conversation as well as sexual contact, are ways in which she can explore, articulate, herself, her identity, her role in the business world, her communication with men, communication with women, her stands as regards “feminism” in the 21^st-century.

The film has an interesting supporting cast including Naomi Watts as the hotel manager in Hong Kong, veteran Hong Kong actor, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong and Will Sharpe as the enigmatic gambling businessman at the hotel with whom she has several conversations, his questioning her, testing her as she has a sexual encounter with one of the hotel staff. And, there is an enigmatic Englishman, Sir John, played by Jamie Campbell Bower.

Not for every audience. And, the intended audience has been particularly negative.