Laure (1976)

Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane's original story for the film was a thematic sequel to his previous works, containing some lengthy discourses on free love and sexuality - however the film's producers were quick to remove most of this philosophising to make the film watchable. The final script bares very little relation to the original Emmanuelle stories, with the exception of the Far East setting, most notably around the character of Laure, who is not the initially naive figure who is 'taught to love' of the novels, but equally is not the completely independant Black Emanuelle character played by Laura Gemser in the parallel series of the films in the 1970s - she is an assertive woman, but one who will look up to a man on occasion and asks permission to express her free love. Often very slow paced, it is over 20 minutes before the first sex scenes and the jungle expedition only begins after a full two thirds of the film have passed, this pacing is certainly more reminiscent of the sedate Emmanuelle (1974) than the various euro-cult follow ups which often moved quickly between the all important sex and sleaze scenes.

Fortunately there is enough characterisation to keep the audience interested throughout the first half, and by the second half, the film begins to descend into a curious surreality that fits the langurious pacing well (something that would have helped the original Emmanuelle (1974)) with some lengthy purely visual sequences. The script is not without its oddities - there are a couple of sex scenes (notably between Prof. Morgan's wife and lover) that seem to have been added in to simply up the sex count, and towards the end, a few of the characters seem to disappear - while at times the story does seem to verge on the overly episodic nature of Emmanuelle (1974) although fortunately these problems do not affect the flow of the film too much.

The direction on the film is left uncredited, after Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane fell out with the producers over the toning down of the script and disowned the production - yet despite his lack of experience and producer Ovidio Assonitis' history in low budget horror schlock (including Beyond the Door (1974)) the film looks amazing with some beautifully shot sequences in Manilla and some superb sex scenes that manage to be both erotic and artistic. The occasional euro-cult composer Franco Micalizzi (The Last Hunter (1980)) provides a very solid soundtrack with some good 'native' themes, that suits the film very well.

The unusually beautiful Annie Belle plays the titular Laure and looks very good in the role, both in and out of costume. Lucio Fulci regular Al Cliver plays her film-making lover while Orso Maria Guerrini (Keoma (1976)) plays the Professor. Emmanuelle Arsan herself (an occasional actress previously credited as Marayat Andriane in the 1960s) plays the Professor's lover Myrte and looks good, with a well played lesbian sex scene.

A rather troubled production not withstanding, Laure is one of the better erotic films of the 1970s - avoiding the often unnecessary sleaze of the Italian productions, and the slow pacing of many of the French entries, it is both artistic and erotic, with a good storyline - boosted by some strong acting and superb direction. Recommended to fans of cinematic erotica who don't need sleaze or hardcore sex to sustain their interest.

Anyone famous in it?	Al Cliver - star of a lot of Lucio Fulci's horror films, including The Beyond (1981) and Zombi 2 (1979).
Directed by anyone interesting?	Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane - the French diplomat who wrote the original Emmanuelle novels.
Any gore/violence?	None.
Any sex?	Numerous softcore sex scenes and female nude scenes (plus one brief male nude scene).
Who is it for?	One for those who enjoy their sex films with a decent storyline and some surreality, but not one for sleaze fans.

Visuals	Original Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colour. A very good looking picture with almost no print damage or grain and very good colours, some mild artifacting. Note: a few scenes were intentionally lower quality, shot on a character's 16mm camera.
Audio	English mono - sounds fine although the dubbing is quite noticeable on several of the actors.
Subtitles	None.
Extras	The disc includes: A newly shot interview with producer Ovidio Assonitis who goes into detail about the film's origins and production. He speaks strongly accented English, subtitles might have been helpful. (15m) Interviews with Annie Belle (audio only) and Al Cliver, from a different DVD of the film - in Italian with subs, they talk about the film and their careers in general. (15m)
Region	Region 0 (ALL) - NTSC
Other regions?	Also available on DVD from Japan.
Cuts?	Believed to be fully uncut. The print used is French.

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The DVD

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