Emmanuelle 7 (1993)

 

Well, Emmanuelle 5 (1987) was dreadful and Emmanuelle 6 (1988) just about as hopeless. It seems it's time to put this series to bed (pun intended).  This marks the last in the series which started in 1974 and Sylvia Krystal returns to put a bow on it. (Krystal notably didn't want to return, but financing her husband's films had bankrupted her.) 

The problems began for Sophie (Cynthia Van Damme) in the shower back at school.

Her friend Emmanuelle (Annie Bellac) convinced her to have sex with Frantz (Sylvain Gary) on the shower floor.

Sister Dominique (Ginette Perrot) discovers them and dumps cold water on them. Ever since then, Sophie has had issues with sex.

Suddenly we're lifted from the scene through a CGI universe

We're in the future now.  Emmanuelle (Sylvia Kristel) was showing Sophie (Caroline Laurence) the power of virtual reality to confront her past - and then maybe become able to enjoy sex.

Emmanuelle shows Sophie around the high tech facility

The technology uses virtual people called "animatrons" 

Emmanuelle gives Sophie a VR headset so she can view someone else's virtual fantasy

In this virtual experience a secretary (Pascale Cardon) is jumping the bones of her boss

Melanie (Julie Jalabert) and Ralph (Jérôme Estienne) operate the virtual reality equipment

Melanie decides to use the equipment herself

She's soon having virtual sex

Sophie works at a museum

Her coworker Marie (Carolyn Monroe) tells her about something that happened the other day.

She was at an opera, when she noticed that the audience below her were all staring at her.  Turns out, her legs were open and she was flashing them her bush. 

Frantz Gotzerman (Roland Waden) who doinked Sophie in the shower all those years ago, is now an esteemed  professor who wants to use Emmanuelle's virtual reality.

At Sophie's recommendation, Marie tries the VR

In her virtual fantasy, she is Marilyn Monroe 

Her dress flies up, and she isn't wearing panties

Viewers observe from the grate below

Frantz is in this world too.

Marie loved the experience

Sophie re-lives being raped in a meat locker.

Carlos (Roberto Malone) rips her clothes off and rapes her among the carcasses 

The creepy meat packers watch.

Sophie relives that fateful day in the shower.

She has sex with Frantz with Emmanuelle kneeling beside her.

But in this VR world, instead Sister Dominique, it's Emmanuelle dressed as a nun

Another VR fantasy: Frantz goes to a Turkish bath with Sophie

Sophie takes off her towel and gets pounded by every guy in the room.

So, this scene is supposedly unsimulated, but the hardcore footage was cut.  Cynthia Van Damme has the distinction of being the only mainstream actress who ever performed unsimulated sex in the Emmanuelle series,

The sex overloads the system and Sophie and Frantz have to abort their VR session.

Melanie notices that Ralph is looking at an "animatron" in her likeness.

She and Ralph get naked and have sex on the VR chair

Marie is called into the office of her boss Henri Cassier (Gregoire Wojciechowski) 

They have sex

A happy ending - Frantz and Sophie are reunited and in love

The paparazzi fawns over the couple

To everyone's shock, they have sex right there at the podium.

 

I can't think of a better way to end the series, which began just about twenty years earlier.  I loved the retro tech, and the virtual reality is pretty impressive for its time.  Lawnmower Man had come out just the year before. The ladies are hot, the sex is constant, and it's filmed beautifully.  The last couple Emmanuelle movies totally shit the bed, so I'm glad to find that this important and influential series ended on a good note.

 ★★★★★★★☆☆☆7/10