Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French softcore erotic movies based on a character created by Emmanuelle Arsan in the novel Emmanuelle (1959). Only films and episodes produced by ASP ("Alain Siritzky Productions") film company are official and based on Arsan's character.

The name Emmanuelle (and its various spelling permutations) has gone on to become synonymous with erotic film.

Films

The first Emmanuelle film was the Italian Io, Emmanuelle from 1969, which wasn't a commercial success. Five years later came the French movie Emmanuelle with the Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel in the title role, who came to be the actress best identified with the role. This film pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on screen at the time, with its sex scenes, as well as scenes involving skinny-dipping, masturbation, the "Mile High Club", a "rape", and a noted scene in which a dancer is shown inserting a cigarette into her vagina. This film was created and directed by the noted French director Just Jaecklin.

Unlike many films that tried to avoid an X-rating, the first Emmanuelle film embraced it, and became a huge international success with a viewing audience to date estimated at over 300 million viewers worldwideHunting Emmanuelle, Firecracker Films (2006) (view clip). It remains one of France's most successful films, and reportedly played in some theatres there for years.

Several sequels starring Kristel followed, beginning with Emmanuelle 2 which is also known as Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman in its US release, and also Emmanuelle L'antivierge in some European press materials, including the soundtrack LP and CD.

Kristel stepped away from the role briefly in the 1980s, yielding to younger actresses, but returned for the 7th feature film, and continued to make cameo appearances as an older Emmanuelle in a number of cable TV films. She also appeared in a number of films that either capitalized upon or parodied her Emmanuelle image, such as the American sex comedy Private Lessons.

None of the actresses who went on to play Emmanuelle would go on to become as successful. One of the better-known actresses to take the part in the 1980s (which, in some parts of Europe, was considered as coveted as James Bond) was American b-movie actress Monique Gabrielle.

After the last official Emmanuelle theatrical feature film, Emmanuelle au 7ème ciel, ASP took Arsan's character to made-for-cable outings instead. These included a science fiction series in the 1990s called Emmanuelle in Space starring American actress/model Krista Allen in one of her first major roles. More recently, Emmanuelle: The Private Collection introduced Natasja Vermeer in the lead role for another slew of video episodes, one featuring an erotic showdown with Dracula himself.