Emmanuelle 2 (1975)

In the mansion where Jean lives Emmanuelle meets Christopher (Frederic Lagache), a handsome American pilot who seems to prefer work over beautiful women. Sensing that Christopher isn't interested in her, Emmanuelle decides to seduce him to prove to Jean that all men are the same if presented with the right 'opportunity'.

Emmanuelle also befriends Anna-Maria (Catherine Rivet), the very beautiful but shy daughter of a local diplomat who is still a virgin. The two become very close friends and begin sharing some of their most intimate secrets. Eventually, Jean and Emmanuelle take Anna-Maria to an exotic massage parlor where she makes love to a local girl.

The handsome pilot repeatedly rejects Emmanuelle's advances and she ends up seducing total strangers. In one of the best sequences in the entire film, Emmanuelle makes love to a tall jockey whose entire body is covered with beautiful tattoos.

Completed a year after Just Jaeckin's classic Emmanuelle, Francis Giacobetti's Emmanuelle: L'antivierge a.k.a Emmanuelle 2 is easily the best film about the famous beauty. Like the first film it initially received an X-rating in France, but a few years later the dreaded rating was removed in a Parisian court.

The film has a couple of explicit sequences, but they are neither vulgar nor harmful. On the contrary, the lovemaking sequences are some of the most stylishly lensed that I have seen in a classic erotic film. The locations are also carefully selected and the emphasis on period detail is outstanding. (See the Jade Garden sequence).

The narrative is fairly straightforward, but this should not be surprising. On the other hand, there is truly great chemistry between the actors that makes the entire film notably relaxed and fun to watch. Kristel, Orsini, and Rivet are clearly the stars of the film, but there is also a memorable sequence with young Laura Gamser (Black Emanuelle).

The film is complimented by an indescribably beautiful soundtrack composed by legendary Oscar winning composer Francis Lai (Arthur Hiller's Love Story, Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman). It is not only the best soundtrack done for a classic erotic film, but arguably also one of the best done for a period film. It is as sensual and elegant as the famous soundtrack Ryuichi Sakamoto created for Bernardo Bertolucci's timeless epic The Sheltering Sky.

Emmanuelle 2 was lensed by cinematographer Robert Fraisse (Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Lover, Philippe de Broca's The Gypsy, John Frankenheimer's Ronin).