Emmanuelle: as divisive as it is captivating (review)
Audrey Diwan revisits the cult heroine in a film about the frustration born of the inability to enjoy, carried by an impressive Noémie Merlant.
A film like a succession of obstacles to overcome. After its Golden Lion for The EventAudrey Diwan has not chosen to rest on her laurels by tackling Emmanuelle, the character created by Emmanuelle Arsan and who has gone down in history at the heart of seventies when Just Jaeckin seized it with the theatrical triumph that we know. Different times, different customs… We had therefore not necessarily anticipated its return in the heart of the 2020s, in a post #metoo era.
Audrey Diwan’s first challenge lies in the pact she intends to make with her viewers from the outset: forget everything you know about Emmanuelle. The second lies in the angle she chooses to tell this story: the journey of a woman in search of sexual pleasure that eludes her. Emmanuelle 2024 will therefore play on frustration, on the impossibility or almost impossibility of pleasure, giving rise to an often icy or even glacial atmosphere which will leave many at the door.
But hand in hand with her interpreter Noémie Merlant – once again impressive – Audrey Diwan goes to the end of her biases, avoids any concession, does not dodge any scene of sexual intimacy and always remains as close as possible to this woman reappropriating her body. All helped by the precious work in the light of Laurent Tangy, as convincing when he creates the atmosphere of a gilded prison of the palace in which Emmanuelle evolves as in the scenes where she escapes to try to find the man who, fleeing her, becomes more and more desirable. And there is a certain panache in this divisive gesture.
By Audrey Diwan. With Noémie Merlant, Will Sharpe, Naomi Watts… Duration 1h42. Released on September 25, 2024
