6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Beautiful newlywed Emmanuelle tires of life in Thailand with her ambassador husband and embarks on a series of sexual adventures. Keen to learn the intricacies of desire, she places herself under the tutelage of the elderly Mario, and starts off down a path which leads her to new heights of physical ecstasy. French President Georges Pompidou tried unsuccessfully to ban this film, which later became a cult and France's all-time top grossing film. X was never like this.
Starring: Sylvia Kristel, Alain Cuny, Marika Green, Daniel Sarky, Jeanne ColletinErotic | 100% |
Foreign | 80% |
Drama | 51% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.64:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Just Jaeckin's "Emmanuelle" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers; a segment from an archival documentary produced by David Gregory; and archival interview with producer Yves Rousset-Rouard and director Just Jaeckin. In French or English, with optional English subtitles for the French audio track. Region-A "locked".
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.64:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from the same old remaster that StudioCanal used for the first high-definition release of Emmanuelle in 2009. Since then the studio has licensed the same remaster to a number of other parties across the globe. (Recently, we also reviewed the Australian release from Umbrella Entertainment here).
It is a decent remaster that offers some meaningful upgrades in quality over previous DVD releases of the film, but you should keep in mind that this exact same remaster was prepared for the DVD market. Naturally, there are certain areas that reveal the type of limitations that such remasters are known to have. For example, detail ranges from decent to good, but on a large screen plenty of the daylight footage begins to lose the fine nuances that modern 2K/4K remasters retain. So, expect to see clipped highlights and in darker footage less than optimal shadow definition (see screencaptures #11 and 13). Grain is retained, but this is the one area where the age of the remaster shows the most -- grain exposure and density are not as stable and as consistent as they would appear on a brand new remaster. Some minor surface sharpening is noticeable whenever there is plenty of light as well, but the darker footage hides it really well. The good news is that there is still plenty to like, and despite some minor fluctuations it is in fact quite easy to enjoy the film and many of its more subtle native qualities. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the French track.
I am going to repost the comments I left for our review of the recent Australian release of Emmanuelle because the quality of the lossless tracks is identical. (There is no additional work done on them).
I have seen a theatrical screening of Emmanuelle in English so it is good to have both tracks. (The English track was used in different international markets). However, the French track sounds nicer -- it is fuller, better rounded, and with overall superior depth. It is cleaner as well. I like it quite a lot, though a brand new remix will likely deliver some stability enhancements in the mid/high registers where some of the unevenness of the original overdubbing is most obvious.
If you are interested in vintage erotic cinema your collection cannot possibly be complete without Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle. It is one of those key films that in the early '70s defined and made erotica mainstream. It is true. You just can't have a serious conversation about the genre and not reference Emmanuelle. It was a trend-setter and there are countless other films that came out after it that would not have been made without its success. RECOMMENDED.
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