Page 150 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

the woman at the heart of the puzzle is difficult to pin down, all the more so when considering the
reception of her first novel, Emmanuelle, beginning in 1957.
Focused on the young, libidinous wife of a French diplomat stationed in Bangkok, the
eponymous heroine enjoys never-ending recreation in her adopted country. She embraces her
pansexual tendencies, debates philosophy anchored to the limits of personal eroticism and is rewarded
with plenty of sex play. First published in France by Eric Losfield, the book brought the wrath of
no less a personage than Prime Minister Charles DeGaulle, who condemned it as an outrange and
suppressed its further publication. Consistent with vilified cultural expressions striking a responsive
cord, however, suppression led the book into the world of underground sales where it enjoyed
tremendous popularity.
Meanwhile, Losfield was convicted of offending public morality for publishing the novel and
was kept from earning any royalties. Into this gap stepped another publisher in 1967, after which
Emmanuelle was sold in the mainstream marketplace on the way to being read by millions. 8 Still
Ms Arsan remained a public mystery, no doubt to encourage wide interest in her presumably
autobiographical heroine. Moreover, her anonymity was likely necessary for protecting Mrs Rollet-
Andriane as the spouse of a politician, not to mention her career as a struggling actress and upstart
author of erotic novels.
Emmanuelle II: L'Anti-Vierge [Emmanuelle II: Against Virginity), the debut's sequel, was published
in 1968 and ably contributed to the popularity of its predecessor. This novel was itself followed a
year later by Nouvelles de TErosphere {News from the Erosphere), by which time Arsan's niche was
well established. Indeed, by the time that the New York-based publishing house Grove Press began
translating her work with the English-language version of Emmanuelle in 1971, she was already
preparing her fourth title, L'Hypothese dEros (The Hypothesis of Eros), eventually published in 1974.
A highly marketable property from the first, Emmanuelle is, at base, an expression of changing
cultural mores. Begun with an aphorism from Antonin Artaud, it offers erotica, travelogue and hints
at strains of critical theory. 'We are not yet in the world / There is not yet a world / Things are not yet
made / The reason for being is not found.' 9 So reads Artaud's remark after which Emmanuelle boards
a jet to rejoin her husband, Jean, in Bangkok, although she is first initiated into the 'mile-high club'
by two nameless men before landing.
Afterwards she is reticent to confide in the other French diplomats' wives with whom she
associates. One of them, Ariane, is particularly friendly and through her Emmanuelle learns the
promiscuous lifestyle, including a session of mutual masturbation with Marie-Anne, a knowledgeable
and beautiful teenager. What ensues is her formal education. Which is to say she enjoys a tryst with
a masseuse, makes love with Ariane and meets an American student named Bee. Soon crushed by the
failure of her love affair with Bee, however, she is introduced to the cultured aesthete, Mario, with
whom she debates the basis of freedom, art and eroticism. Putting word into action they venture to an
opium den and discover a phallus-worshipping sect of virile men. Finally returning to his home, they
invite their driver in for a threesome before Emmanuelle's climax ends her adventures, crying out, Tm
in love! I'm in love! I'm in love!'10
Sketched in this way, Emmanuelle is reducible to three movements of experimentation, reflection
and conquest. In the first, our heroine intimately encounters Ariane:

136