According to some commentators, it didn’t work. Variety article: “It’s a tricky and potentially impossible short to say something new and substantive about female desire while honoring the film’s hallmark vague, creepy sexuality.” Audrey Dewan’s listless, often frigid new work chooses to do neither.
There were mixed reviews in France. “The staging is wonderful, sophisticated, and intentionally cold.” Contributed to the French daily newspaper Le Figaro. “It shines, but remains cold…Obviously, the goal was to turn Emmanuel into a feminist icon. An interesting idea.” However, France’s Huffington Post is more positive about the film’s purpose. write: “Emmanuel is no longer the object of all desire, the object of a hypersexualized woman. She is an active subject, the very object of her own desire.”
He is also disappointed that the new film is not in French, even though the previous film was a worldwide success in French. But Eve Jackson still believes French viewers will watch the film “out of curiosity.”
“We have a world-renowned cast, and Audrey Dewan is a respected filmmaker. I think everyone wants to know, ‘This female director has a world-renowned cast, and Audrey Dewan is a well-respected director.’ Can we replace the male gaze?’” she says. “I don’t get it. It’s an erotic movie and it has a symbolic title, so I guess that name alone has a 50-year history in France as an erotic sex symbol for men. I still think so.”
“Emmanuelle” (2024) is currently being released in France. It will be released worldwide at a later date.
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