Soft Porn Sunday: Jeanne Colletin & Daniel Sarky

Although I am more familiar with the more recent Emmanuelle films starring Krista Allen in the title role (and, to an extent, the ones that came after that starring Marcela Walerstein), there's no doubt that the original films were the precipitator of most soft porn to come afterwards - in fact, they spawned a score of imitators. In the '70s, Emmanuelle was French - none of this American stuff we see in later films - and played by the rather delightful Sylvia Kristel. In honour of certain people I've been conversing with recently, herewith a French scene.

Appearance: Emmanuelle (1974)
Characters: Jean & Ariane

This scene doesn't actually feature Emmanuelle (sorry about that) - I always found her scenes a bit dull. It's a quickie featuring her husband Jean, and an older lady named Ariane, played by Jeanne Colletin, who clearly relishes her role. Jean and Ariane have been at her place, having some sort of conversation (sorry, my memory escapes me), guardedly. It's clear that it's not going well, and it ends abruptly, followed by Ariane sweeping aside her dress to indicate she's not wearing any underwear. Those crazy French!

"Voila, est-ce que tu s'attendé?" she asks. Doesn't take a genius to work out what that means.
"Bitch!" answers Jean, athough to my knowledge that should be, "Chienne!". Despite clearly not being too fond of Ariane, he then walks purposely towards her, lifts her onto the table that's conveniently placed behind her, and has quick, quite brutal sex with her. Well, she was offering...

I like this scene because of everything in it. The chemistry between Colletin and Sarky is evident on screen (something that's not seen in a lot of softcore), and even though it's not exactly believable, the hate!sex element works pretty well too. They're having sex - why? Because they can!
The brevity of this scene necessitates lots of thought for it to work in terms of arousal, and yet there's a lot packed into the 53 seconds. Jean's heavy breathing at the very beginning and Ariane's passionate, uncontrollable moans of pleasure give credence to the intensity of the sex, the movements are jerky and sudden (rather than fluid and orchestrated), the use of the table is a very nice touch, and it all just works. It makes you believe in the sex absolutely. And isn't that what it's all about?

Oh, and they're clothed... which makes this exciting, apparently.

The music is a little odd - but it works for the scene, building up as the sex does. And as soon as it starts, it's all over. Do Jean and Ariane pay for their indiscretion? No, of course not. But that's all part of this magnificent film... and with sex scenes like this, who needs any more time?