‘Emmanuelle’: Lea Seydoux Reviving Iconic Erotic Character For Audrey Diwan’s English-Language Debut

Actress Lea Seydoux is heading to the Cannes Film Festival this month with both David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of The Future” and Mia Hansen-Love‘s “One Fine Morning.” The festival isn’t the only thing going on as the Cannes Market has led to the actress starring in “Emmanuelle,” a revival of the film based on French novelist Emmanuelle Arsan‘s iconic sex-positive autobiography, in an English-language reboot.

The Hollywood Reporter reveals “Emmanuelle” hails from French filmmaker Audrey Diwan, who recently won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival for her abortion drama “Happening.” Diwan wrote the new incarnation’s script with Rebecca Zlotowski (“An Easy Girl“) and will be the director’s English-language movie debut.

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The original “Emmanuelle” exploded in the 1970s leading to multiple sequels, parodies, and even Italian bootlegs. One might also venture that the film’s popularity was helped by the mainstream era of the porn industry during that decade as audiences felt more comfortable viewing sex-driven films in public theaters.

The character from the 1967 novel penned by Arsan was most notably adapted to appear in a string of sexy softcore films that started in 1974 (two years after “Deep Throat” became a massively popular theatrical porn release) with Columbia Pictures and Just Jaeckin‘s X-rated controversial film that starred Sylvia Kristel.

As the story opens, Emmanuelle is boarding a plane in London to rejoin her husband in Bangkok. She finds herself powerfully compelled by the overnight passenger seated beside her, and before she has landed, her irrepressible sensual nature has begun to open wide vistas of sexual possibility. As the novel continues, she moves easily from the waiting arms of her husband to intimacies with the wives of his business associates to further explorations and experiences in which the subtle aesthetics of eroticism are expounded—and enacted—to their fullest.

Adaptation rights for Arsan’s book were acquired by production company Chantelouve with Wild Bunch International and CAA Media Finance handling sales. A presentation with Diwan is being held on Wednesday at Cannes.

Thankfully, this modern revival of “Emmanuelle” will be helmed by a female director and we are anticipating something both sexy and sex positive without the exploitation of the ’70s incarnation.