So there are various cultural artifacts that predate me, and which I only know secondhand — from references to them in TV shows or comics, from jokes on Letterman, whatever. And this definitely falls into that camp: My vague sense of it, from whatever secondhand source, was that it was some ’70s porn stuff… but look, here it is on Mubi, and they’re saying it’s a classy (albeit “erotic”) French film, so maybe not?

Also the description on Mubi said that it was about a French wife in Bangkok and her various affairs, so I couldn’t resist it as a paired-watch with India Song. Which, it turns out, it differs from in some major ways.

The first is that it actually is about Thailand — it was filmed on location, and spends a lot of time showing scenery and the like, and honestly just seeing Bangkok in the ’70s is pretty cool.

But the second is that her affairs most definitely are shown. And so to the question of “is it porn?” it certainly isn’t hardcore porn, but beyond that I’m wafflier. Like, apparently in its day it got an X rating but was supposed to be a more sophisticated variety of softcore; but watching it in the modern context of both arthouse and horror movies… it’s not like especially graphic or shocking or anything? Like, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac is a lot more intense, and there are really no scenes here that couldn’t just be in a random artsy French movie (including some of the pretentious dialogue on the nature of eroticism).

The thing that makes it actually feel pornier than it is is the soundtrack, because every time there’s a scene where people get naked, it starts up a funky soundtrack that’s almost the stereotype of what you’d think of as porn music. If it had used a more subdued soundtrack or no music at all, it’d read way more arthouse with no other changes.

Anyway, though, I think that the movie is not entirely successful taken as a serious movie, because what it wants to be is some kind of fable of women’s liberation and sexual freedom and all that, but it’s hard not to notice that the movie is mostly about various men telling Emmanuelle what to do and also them being kinda jerks about it.

Interesting historical artifact, but in the end I think that unsurprisingly if you want to watch a movie on this theme, India Song is the more interesting one in every way except geographically.