Emanuelle and Francoise — Emanuelle and Francoise(Blu Ray)
Emanuelle and Francoise( aka Blood Vengence, Demon Rage, Emanuelle's Revenge) was made in 1975, and saw D’ Amato using George Eastman as his lead actor. The pair would in the early 1980’s go onto make the OTT euro horror classics & sort of sequels- Anthropophagus and Absurd. And while Emanuelle and Francoise doesn’t really count as a horror picture, there's some horrific imagery and a boatload of sleaze- both cheeky & bright, and more unpleasant and gruelling.
The film opens in a decidedly bright & breezy soft-core manner- with as the credits roll we see Françoise(Patrizia Gori) posing for a photographer in various semi-dressed & undressed form- as the credits end we get Gianni Marchetti mellow and light vibe-meets- string score, as Françoise rides a bike, and takes a tube. Her journey finishes as she opens her apartment door, finding her boyfriend Carlo(Eastman) in a state of sweaty undress with another woman in her bed…he indifferently packs Françoise clothes in a case, and throws her out…fairly soon she jumps in front of a train, and bang the bright & breeziness is long gone. Next, we move to Françoise on a slab and her glamorous blond sister Emanuelle(Rosemarie Lindt )identify her body, fairly soon she decides to take ravage on Carlo.
The film unfolds with a blend of flashback to the very unpleasant & cad-ish Carlo mistreating and abusing Françoise- first making have sex with a fat older man while crying , next anal raping her while his poker buddies look on, before getting her involved in a grimy porn film. We get Emanuelle teasing & flirting with Carlo, who she finally captures & imprison in a padded secret room behind a two way mirror in her flat- where she brings one sexually partner after another to taut him with, all moving towards a truly deranged & tripped-out supper scene- which sees a group of people eating organs, human hands & feet- before defiling a held down women with a wine bottle, and a nakedly attack the chained Carlo.
As with many of Joe D'Amato the pacing/ flow of the film does drag in places, at times it feels a lot longer than it’s hour and thirty-eight-minute runtime…but something sleazy or nasty does show up fairly soon. Another positive is the great & varied soundtrack that moves from hip swing psych-rock, grooving easy listening, piano and string-led melodies, and some neat but fleeting use of the Jew harp. And while Emanuelle and Francoise are certainly not the most balanced and rewarding of Joe D'Amato films, that honor goes to Beyond the Darkness aka Buio Omega, it’s certainly a memorable enough, at times a quite nasty slice of euro sleaze, with Eastman doing great work as the misogynistic & nasty Carlo
The new 2K scan looks good- but most impressive is the films audio really highlight the great and varied score- working well at both more mellow moments, and the more groovy and dramatic moments. Extras wise we have two stand alone interviews- these each run around to the fifteen minute mark- first we have one with Maria Rosaria Riuzzi- who played one of the younger members of a three women- on-women session in the film- the interview sees her discussing how she first got into acting & early roles, going onto discuss her role in the film, they also playback her scene & get her to comment on it, which feels very awkward!. Next, we get an interview with Geroge Eastman- I’ve seen a few interviews with him now, and once again he’s very honest & down-to-earth about his role in the film- admitting he initially took the role as it was been filmed near where he lived- it’s a good and informative interview. We get around eleven minutes of cut scenes, and a German trailer.
It’s great to see Severin digging up more of Joe D'Amato back catalog for reissue, and I do hope there’s more lined up…as I said early it's not top draw D'Amato, but if you're in the mood for euro sleaze with a nasty edge & some WTH moments I think you’ll get a kick out of Emanuelle and Francoise.