Tender and Perverse Emanuelle

Critical Perspective

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  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.