Tender and Perverse Emanuelle

This woozily unfocussed tale of jealousy and betrayal resembles the films Umberto Lenzi was making in Italy in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Hollywood émigré Carroll Baker (Paranoia; A Quiet Place to Kill; Knife of Ice). … As so often with Franco, for the pleasures of the film we must turn to the mood. …The film drips with a kind of sleepy Continental languor, and as a consequence it’s not without merit. … There are some tried-and-true pleasures for lovers of Eurotrash melodrama (obsessive love, a troubled heroine, seedy affairs in expensive locations) but perhaps the reason the film has failed to gain much traction with fans is that it strays too close to the ever-present line in Franco’s work between elegance and lethargy. With a preponderance of characters standing around, sipping drinks and discussing the plot, this is a hazy Mogodon giallo for the dedicated Francophile only.