The Worst Film Ever

Brilliant and touching

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The rambling philosophical ruminations on erotica that made up such a large part of the first movie (and frankly made no sense whatsoever) are absent here in favor of much more familiar explorations of strange sensual experiences (other women, men, groups, unusual settings, even acupuncture and massage) typical of a 70s erotic novel. Just Jaekin, director of the first movie, dismissed this film (along with the rest of the series) as unnecessarily tacked on junk, but the formula of the first movie is faithfully followed here and the results are quite watchable if not to be taken too seriously. Steamy Thailand creates an effectively exotic hothouse setting for the languorous writhing that takes up much of the movie's running time and everything looks very colorful and lush thanks to an excellent cinematographic eye for tropical images. The result is somewhat less entertaining than it sounds. It's a soft-core travelogue with the beautiful but rather dull to watch Sylvia Kristel front and center for most of the film. I have never been convinced that the woman could act, and though she looks great, she seems rather overburdened to carry a whole film for 100 minutes. Something about her performance is never completely convincing or in the moment. Nevertheless, the movie looks good, and has moments of true erotic power - something many others in this genre fail to attain - making it far from the worst choice a viewer might make when looking for an erotic adventure film.

Like "Emmanuelle, "Joys of a woman" wallows in pseudo-philosophy while displaying a lot of aroused women seeking satisfaction… The setting is Hong Kong, where Emmanuelle is taken through the high-life of the aristocrat… In Jack Jaeckin's first film, Emmanuelle was sexually reserved, and came out as she discovered her hidden sexuality… In the sequel, she explores further into the erotic domain—especially other women—in trying to find the perfect lover… The characters are not real, but ethereal, dream-like creatures floating through life… This quality actually works quite well as Sylvia Kristel encounters other women… The eroticism is soft and sensual… When she confronts a man, however, there is a feeling only of performance… It's much more sharply refreshing and keen… The male lovers never seem to be as compassionate or as feeling as the women, nor are their characters as developed… The photography is quite rich and luxuriant, and has captured a postcard view of modern Hong Kong

The sequel for the groundbreaking Emmanuelle welcomes back the gorgeous Sylvia Kristel (complete with a Kimberly Ryan hairstyle) in her second sexer. This time Emmanuelle and her husband (played by Umberto Orsini, a man I wish that I could look like) visit more of the Orient and Indonesia. Again, Emmanuelle (who's more confident about herself and her sexuality) has the time to have "philisophical discussions" wherever she goes, whether it would be in the bathtub, watching a microfilm movie short, in a locker room, a brothel, or getting acupuncture! Once again, we'll get to see the rituals and customs of the countries of the Far East, the same song being played during the "philisophical discussions", and a PYT thing who wants to learn from her (instead of the PYT teaching her). Once again I've seen the French and dubbed versions, and this time Kristel is dubbed by a more confident sounding woman, the voice of Emmanuelle from the first one seems to have been given to PYT Anna-Maria (Catherin Rivet).All in all, almost as good as the first. BTW, one of the masseuses in the parlour Emmanuelle, Jean, and Anna-Maria visits is played by the gorgeous Laura Gemser, an Indonesian actress who would later play Emmanuelle in the series after Kristel decided to try her luck in more mainstream films in America.

I fell in love and lust with Sylvia Kristel after seeing this and the other 'Emmanuelle' films. She isn't typically beautiful, she isn't even the prettiest actress in most of her erotic films! But she has an innocence about her and a sexual hunger that has driven a lot men wild over the course of her career. But! This is an enjoyable erotic little piece of fluff but at times you wish it was a bit of a harder version of soft core porn. They don't spend nearly enough time on the love scenes and frequently cut away when things are just getting interesting. But I did like the mysterious Orient setting, the acupuncture scene and the bit of animation that Sylvia watches on one of those old fashioned movie machines. You will too. This is probably best viewed at home in bed with a young lady friend if you catch my drift and I think you do...