Black Emanuelle (1975) - Part Two
In its first five minutes BLACK EMANUELLE establishes several of the film's motifs. The movie begins with a shot of a plane going across the night sky, establishing instantly the international travel component that will be so important in the Emanuelle series. Inside the plane, Emanuelle sits, glancing through a men's magazine, which symbolizes the voyeuristic aspect of the film. Placing the magazine back in its holder, she sees a couple begin some petting in the seats across her aisle--another voyeuristic tag. The title card comes on, identifying Emanualle, instead of Laura Gemser, as playing in BLACK EMANUELLE. That's the way Gemser was initially credited (in poster art and ads, too), under her character's name, not her own. The main credits play over a night scene, from another part of the film, of a naked Emanuelle on bed, masturbating. Masturbation is the logical outcome of voyeurism, a necessary release to sexual tension if a partner isn't available. Both voyeurism and masturbation in a film are acts of complicity with the viewer, who, in all cases, is watching the movie for some erotic charge. It's membership in the club of wicked delights: The filmmaker says, "I know why you are here, and I agree to the terms of your interest."
After the main credits, back to the plane. Emanuelle wishes to smoke, but is out of cigarettes. She heads down the aisle, looking, it seems, not just for someone who may have cigarettes, but who may be a quick romantic partner. As she goes down the aisle she is ogled by a couple of male passengers, including a black man, whom she passes by with indifference. Spotting a young man talking to a flight attendant, a young white male, she approaches. She sits down next to him and begins conversation, to find out that the man is a missionary. Emanuelle is surprised at his casual attire and his selection of life career. Two points here: Emanuelle's interest in Caucasian men and the twist of unexpected identity revelations, which foreshadows the self discovery that will happen to Emanuelle in the film.
On the ground in their destination in Kenya, Emanuelle and the young missionary sit in an outdoor cafe, while Emanuelle waits for the person she is scheduled to meet. She refuses a black waiter pouring her drink and even wipes the rim of the glass to clean it, before pouring her drink inside. We get the picture of a woman who is indifferent to black men, perhaps even disdainful, and who cares for Western sanitary cleanliness, perhaps even to excess. When the young missionary invites Emanuelle to visit him one day, Emanuelle tells him that she doubts she will, considering her familiarity with the creature comforts of the West.
All of this, in five minutes, is set up quite nicely, and subtly, to delineate the psychological makeup of Emanuelle, which in this first film is at the center of the story.
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