emmanuel in meta

August 4, 2007 9:08 PM

Sylvia Kristel
posted by vronsky (33 comments total)

Ah, to be a young teen in the late eighties again. Telling my parents I'm staying up late to watch The Breakfast Club, but instead watching Emmanuel with the volume down, listening for that tell-tale creak of someone coming down the stairs, ready to quick-change to another channel.

God bless Cinemax.
posted by sourwookie at 9:19 PM on August 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

We had the same formative years, sourwookie. I remember Emanuelle quite vividly.
posted by Justinian at 9:27 PM on August 4, 2007

Great. Right before bed. Thanks a ton, vronksy.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:29 PM on August 4, 2007

Those Europeans, they just had better sex, and that's all there is to it.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:29 PM on August 4, 2007

Just great. Now I've combined the concept of masturbation with vronsky's user name and now I can't get the phrase "Vronsky Beat" out of my head.
posted by sourwookie at 9:33 PM on August 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Introducing a generation of boys to frenzied wire-twanging.
posted by djgh at 9:39 PM on August 4, 2007

The watershed moment in film that was ... Emmanuelle.
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:48 PM on August 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

By the way, thanks for this link. It prompted me to go read the Emmanuelle article at Wikipedia which in turn led me to another Wiki article on another one of Kristel's films, Private Lessons, a film I remember (and enjoyed) from my days as a young teen. I had recently been trying (without success) to remember the name of it and had considered using AskMe, but this saved me the trouble of doing so. I've even found it on sale at an online DVD shop, so I may invest in a copy.

Much like sourwookie and Justinian up-thread, Private Lessons was a film I would watch up late without my parents knowledge, intently watching the movie while listening for any sound indicating the parental units were approaching. It is strange to me that we would be allowed to watch Terminator or Rambo without much of a fuss but any movie showing boobies was the sort of thing that had to be done in secret.

So again, thankyou for this post. It not only helped me remember a movie I wanted to remember, but introduced me to the Emmanuel series, which I am now quite keen on watching. Cheers!
posted by Effigy2000 at 9:57 PM on August 4, 2007

Could you people PLEASE restrict yourselves to one link per word? Why not More Sylvia Kristel, for example?

And by the way, I could have assured y'all she was faking it: visual pornography is basically prostitution on camera, and I never had had a hooker who didn't fake it if she reacted at all. (For that matter, when I was young a few girlfriends got themselves ditched for doing that.)
posted by davy at 10:43 PM on August 4, 2007

davy on metafilter protocol: confused by mousing over.

davy on prostitution: has had multiple hookers who don't react or at best fake it.

All of a sudden I have lost all of my guilt concerning my Portnoy's Complaint-esque adolescence. Thanks davy!
posted by sourwookie at 10:48 PM on August 4, 2007

FROM SEA TO FOAMING SEA!!!!

/Philip Roth
posted by sourwookie at 10:50 PM on August 4, 2007

I'm not confused by mousing over, I just consider making me mouse over to get the links to be rude. And I know rude when I see it.

And tell me, when you spend $25 for a blowjob, do you believe her when she says "I don't know how I can take all that?" When you go $40 for half-&-half do you really think you're the hottest guy she's ever had? It's a JOB, man; I just wish they'd do it quietly. (I have the same problem with barbers and dentists.)
posted by davy at 11:23 PM on August 4, 2007

In my day we crouched by the TV listening for the creak of movement upstairs while watching the French CBC. Unable to understand French, we watched with the sound off, not knowing what the movie was about but convinced in our own plot construction that every scene was a step towards the lead actress taking off her clothes. Although we heard talk at that time of the Blue Movies showing on Saturday nights in Toronto, and the new Global network was at that time allowing profanity and the occasional flash of nudity in its late-night movies, in the late 1970's we relied on the French with their liberated European lifestyles for our best chance to see female flesh. Kids today, by age twelve downloading four hours of gag me choke me all-anal at the click of a mouse, how will they ever develop the creativity, patience and resilience to make their own way in this harsh world?
posted by TimTypeZed at 11:29 PM on August 4, 2007 [4 favorites]

when you spend $25 for a blowjob, ...When you go $40 for half-&-half

Not even on my personal experience radar. Do you mean to tell me you sleep with women that don't want to sleep with you? I can't relate. Sorry.
posted by sourwookie at 11:38 PM on August 4, 2007

We had it easier in the UK when Channel Four introduced their Red Triangle concept. Guaranteed smut and titillation, albeit as part of some French surrealist weirdness or the like.
posted by Abiezer at 11:56 PM on August 4, 2007

Fantastic. Sylvia Kristel was the hottest thing around when I was growing up, although Koo Stark deserves a mention.
posted by illiad at 12:28 AM on August 5, 2007

Odd--Mr. HGG and I were talking just the other day about Sylvia Kristel...he had met her at a film festival where she was showing the animated short she had directed. He said it was pretty cool to meet her--he liked the animation, and...well...I think he probably has the same fond memories of Emmanuelle as most of the people posting in this thread! He also said she was very nice but seemed a bit sad, and reading that article about her memoir, I can certainly see why.

The short is called Topor et Moi; it is about the Paris art scene in the 1970s, and it includes her reminiscences of the artist Roland Topor, who taught her to paint. It won a few awards and was well-received at festivals.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:55 AM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm just impressed to learn that Al Swearingen fucked Emmanuelle.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:19 AM on August 5, 2007

I'm amused to see Al Swearingen described as a "chippy midget."
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:17 AM on August 5, 2007

When Skinemax showed those films back in the pre-video days, when everyone was watching the same thing at the same time and doing the same thing when they got to certain scenes, I wonder how many gallons of spunk were simulanteously aloft?

(Google tells me there are 768 teaspoons in a gallon and that the average man ejaculates around a teaspoonful of semen, so it would take about 768 synchronized Cinemax subscribers to get a gallon over America? Hmm.)
posted by pracowity at 6:33 AM on August 5, 2007

when you spend $25 for a blowjob, ...When you go $40 for half-&-half

I can't relate. Sorry.

Well, I can't either Sourwookie, but I do laud davy for his candour, most indeed.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 6:39 AM on August 5, 2007

I remember seeing an Emmanuel movie on a ferry to France on a school trip back in the late 70s. Maybe that's why I always thought her name was Sylvie not Sylvia.
posted by Sk4n at 7:57 AM on August 5, 2007

I wonder how many gallons of spunk were simulanteously aloft?

Jesus H. Christ on a crutch, pracowity. Thanks a lot. Now I have a picture.
posted by illiad at 9:14 AM on August 5, 2007

Actually I only got hookers six or seven times, in my 20s in 1986-7, in San Francisco. I recall a couple of those experiences fondly: the women were rather cute and glad I wasn't an ugly fat middle-aged goon. (That much I did believe.) But now that I am a middle-aged goon I can't afford hookers, nor would I waste a $10 Viagra.
posted by davy at 9:35 AM on August 5, 2007

But anyway, the subject was Sylvia Kristel saying she "faked it"; the point was "Of course!"
posted by davy at 9:37 AM on August 5, 2007

And by the way, I used to prefer "Laurie Partridge." And the Spiegel catalog.
posted by davy at 9:38 AM on August 5, 2007

Here's a recent documentary about her, filmed by Michiel van Erp and shown by Dutch arts programme 'Het uur van de Wolf'. It's mostly in Dutch.
posted by prolific at 9:57 AM on August 5, 2007

I remember sneaking late night peeks at Cinemax and catching Emmanuel more than once. I think seeing that film at such a formative age is one of the reasons I find older, filmed erotica much sexier than modern, shiny, video porn.
posted by LeeJay at 11:48 AM on August 5, 2007

wow, davy, thanks for sharing.
posted by empath at 1:36 PM on August 5, 2007

.
posted by sighmoan at 2:47 PM on August 5, 2007

I wonder how many gallons of spunk were simulanteously aloft?

And how many buckets of cocks were involved?
posted by buriednexttoyou at 5:16 PM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm aghast at the thought of being Davy's barber or dentist.
posted by flabdablet at 6:20 PM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

"I'm aghast at the thought of being Davy's barber or dentist."

My complaint is that they can't just shut up and do their jobs. Now get back to work.
posted by davy at 8:46 AM on August 7, 2007