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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: April 9th, 2019.
Directors: Franí§ois Leterrier
Cast: Sylvia Kristel, Umberto Orsini, Jean-Pierre Bouvier, Alexandra Stewart, Olga Georges-Picot, Charlotte Alexandra
Year: 1977
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Goodbye Emmanuelle - Movie Review:
Also known under the more generic title of Emmanuelle 3, 1977's Goodbye Emmanuelle finds our titular adventurer, Emmanuelle (Sylvia Kristel) travelling to Seychelles with husband Jean (Umberto Orsini) where, being who they are, they almost instantly find various people to have sex with. Their relationship is, for the most part, an open one but it's clear that they're in love with one another and don't mind if there's a little fun had outside of the confines of a traditional marriage.
All of this is fine until Emmanuelle meets Grégory (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), a film director who she is instantly attracted to. The more she gets to know him, the more it seems that she's legitimately falling in love with Grégory, and this doesn't sit well with the increasingly jealous and possessive Jean. Soon, Emmanuelle's relationship with Grégory starts to push she and Jean even further apart.
Director Franí§ois Leterrier directs this third entry, made two years after the success of Emmanuelle 2, this one, surprisingly, focuses less on the graphic sex scenes that made the two earlier films famous and more on the dramatic side of things. There's still some fairly graphic copulation here, but not to the same extent that fans might have expected. Still, Leterrier delivers a handsomely lenses film, a picture that does a great job of showing off not only its attractive cast in various states of dress and undress, but its exotic locations as well. The cinematography is typically soft, as you'd expect if you've seen the earlier entries, and the score (highlighted by an opening song courtesy of the great Serge Gainsbourg and his muse, Jane Birkin) quite effective.
Despite the fact that the title implies this would be the end of the series, there would be countless knock offs and sequels made over the years. As to Kristel? She would reprise this, her most famous of roles, in a series of TV Emmanuelle movies in the early nineties. She would also appear in Emmanuelle IV where she decides to have some plastic surgery to become a younger version of herself played by a completely different actress. Kristel is fine here, thought some may find the tomboyish look she goes for in this installment less appealing then the more feminine look she sported in the earlier pictures. Still, she's a beautiful woman and at this point was clearly quite comfortable playing this role. She has decent chemistry with both Umberto Orsini and Jean-Pierre Bouvier, both of whom are also fine in their respective parts. Alexandra Stewart of Louis Malle's Black Moon appears in the film as Dorothée, a woman that Emmanuelle seduces. The beautiful Charlotte Alexandra from Walerian Borowczyk's Immoral Tales has a small supporting role in the film as well.
The film is much heavier on conversation and dialogue than the two prior efforts, it's more serious and less playful, but it's also pretty well-made. Look at this one as a fairly compelling relationship drama with a bit more sex than usual and you'll probably appreciate it more than if you go into it expecting a softcore romp.
Goodbye Emmanuelle - Blu-ray Review:
Goodbye Emmanuelle is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a 25GB disc with a healthy bit rate (the feature takes up over 20GBs of space) framed at 2.35.1. The Emmanuelle films were intentionally shot soft, giving things a dreamlike look at times, and as such, detail doesn't really astound - but again, that's how these movies were meant to look in the first place. Still, this definitely surpasses previous DVD editions of the movie. Just as it was with the Blu-ray release of the first two movies, there's no print damage here at all, however, the transfer is pristine in that regard, and color reproduction is quite nice. Black levels are good and skin tones, which are nearly constantly on display, also look nice and natural.
Audio options for the film are supplied in 16-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono in your choice of English or French with optional subtitles provided in English only. No problems to report here. The movie plays better in French but both the French and English language options for the feature sound just fine. Levels are properly balanced and the tracks are free of any hiss or distortion. The film's score also sounds very good here, though the French track does sound just a tad stronger and fuller than the English counterpart.
Also included on the disc is The Joys Of Emmanuelle Part 3, a featurette with Sylvia Kristel, which runs just a hair over nine-minutes in length. She speaks about reprising the role for a third time and shares her thoughts on the film, the character and her experiences.
Rounding out the extra on the disc are trailers for Emmanuelle, Emmanuelle 2 and two trailers for Goodbye Emmanuelle, four radio spots for the feature and menus and chapter selection.
Goodbye Emmanuelle - The Final Word:
Goodbye Emmanuelle takes things in an unexpectedly serious direction but it's an interesting enough film that it's worth a watch, even if it is clearly the least erotic of the original three films by quite a margin. Kino's done a fine job bringing it to Blu-ray.
Click on the images below for full sized Goodbye Emmanuelle Blu-ray screen caps!
