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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2019.
Director: Joe D'Amato
Cast: Patrizia Gori, George Eastman, Rosemarie Lindt
Year: 1975
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Emanuelle And Francoise - Movie Review:
Also known as Emanuelle's Revenge, Blood Revenge and Blood Vengeance Joe D'Amato's 1975 picture Emanuelle And Francoise tells the story of… Francoise (Patrizia Gori)! She spends her days working in the fancy world of high fashion modelling and makes a nice living posting for the camera. There is, however, a giant, hairy thorn in her side in the form of Carlo (George Eastman), the boyfriend that she lives with. He's less than nice to her. In fact, he's a bit of a bastard. He cheats on her all the time and, when he winds up in debt, uses her a payment, allowing those he owes money to a romp in the sack with her in lieu of cash. When Francoise walks in on him nailing another woman, he kicks her to the curb and she winds up laying down in front of a train, killing herself, leaving behind a lengthy explanatory suicide note.
From here, we meet Francoise's sister, Emanuelle (Rosemarie Lindt). When she reads her dear, departed sister's final missive, she takes it upon herself to find out what exactly happened with Carlo and pay him back in kind. It doesn't take too much effort for lovely Emanuelle to seduce lecherous Carlo, and once she gets him back to her place, well, he's putty in her hands. This makes it all the easier to lure him into the cell she's had built behind a two-way mirror. With Carlo trapped, Emanuelle then proceeds to taunt him as he's forced to watch while she indulges her every carnal whim, knowing full well that his inability to participate will drive him insane. But that's not all she has in mind…
A remake of Greek filmmaker Dimi Dadiras' 1968 film The Wild Pussycat and co-written by D'Amato and frequent co-conspirator Bruno Mattei, Emanuelle And Francoise is reasonably twisted stuff. Those expecting a pretty, softcore romp like the French films that D'Amato was so clearly trying to cash in on might be taken aback by this, but if you've seen Dadiras' picture you'll have a pretty good idea of where it's headed. D'Amato, to his credit, takes things further in his remake, and, as D'Amato was wont to do, delivers a considerably more graphic picture. He even manages to work some cannibalism into the proceedings!
Performances are pretty decent, and definitely bold. Patrizia Gori, who was in Battle Of The Godfathers and Cry Of A Prostitute, is solid enough here. If nothing else, we feel for her after what her boyfriend puts her through. Speaking, Eastman, best known for his many collaborations with D'Amato like Anthropophagous and Porno Holocaust, is great as the villain - he was always great at the villain but he's goes the extra mile here, really throwing himself into the role. Rosemarie Lindt, of Who Saw Her Die? and Salon Kitty, doesn't look anything like more famous Emmanuelle/Emanuelle's like Sylvia Kristel and Laura Gemser but nevertheless delivers a strong performance. Again, her work here is pretty brazen and she shows an impressive amount of commitment to the part! Maria Rosaria Riuzzi, who also appeared in Salon Kitty as well as D'Amato's Images In A Convent and Lenzi's The Tough Ones, has a supporting part here as does Annie Carol Edel who some will recognize from Lenzi's Almost Human and The True Story of the Nun of Monza.
Production values are just fine. Gianni Marchetti provides an appropriately quirky score. The cinematography, provided by D'Amato himself, is as solid as his work tends to be. The camera movements are well thought out and the use of light and shadow in the film can be frequently quite impressive, despite the fact that he was likely working with a pretty modest budget on this film.
Emanuelle And Francoise - Blu-ray Review:
Emanuelle And Francoise is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.78.1 widescreen with a new transfer taken from a 2k scan of the original 35mm negative. Though it appears that this was shot at 1.66.1, the framing here looks fine and compositions are not affected. Detail is good considering how soft the image looks (which appears to be an intentional choice?), color reproduction is decent too, if a tad flat in spots. The image is very clean, showing virtually no print damage, and the disc is free of noise reduction, edge enhancement or compression artifacts.
Audio chores are handled by your choice of English or Italian DTS-HD Mono tracks with separate subtitle options supplied for both. Both tracks are clean and nicely balanced without any noticeable hiss or distortion. No problems to note here, the audio is just fine.
Extras start off with Three Women And A Mirror which is a new interview with actress Maria Rosaria Riuzzi that runs just under fifteen-minutes. Here she speaks about how young she was when she got her start but was still cast in some rather racy scenes. She then goes on to talk about her part in this film, discussing a couple of specific scenes and how she got along with some of her fellow cast members. George Eastman himself shows up in The Other Side Of The Mirror to talk for just over fifteen-minutes about his thoughts on the film (he's not a fan), the convenient locations used for the film, the influence of The Wild Pussycast on Bruno Mattei's script, his own work on the script, and how he got along with most of the people he worked with on the picture.
Severin also supplies just over fourteen-minutes' worth of deleted and alternate scenes, the majority of which come from the alternate German version of the movie wherein Peter Baumgartner and Paul Grau (names that will be familiar to fans of Erwin C. Dietrich's output) are credited with shooting the picture in the opening credits. The rest of the material is mostly racier versions of the sex scenes already in the film, clearly inserts shot with different performers.
A German trailer, menus and chapter selection round out the selection of extras. Severin has also included some cool reversible covert art for this release, with the Emanuelle And Francois artwork on one side and the Blood Vengeance art from the UK VHS release on the reverse.
Emanuelle And Francoise - The Final Word:
Emanuelle And Francoise is pretty nutty stuff, particularly that ending. Fans of seventies Eurotrash should eat this right up. It's also really nicely shot the way that most of D'Amato's stuff is. Severin has done a nice job bringing this to Blu-ray in great shape and with some strong extra features as well. Recommended!
Click on the images below for full sized Emanuelle And Francoise Blu-ray screen caps!
