Powerful

Please don't spend money on this.

Admirable film.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I have always treasured fond memories of the EMMANUELLE series (offical entries and otherwise) from my movie-going days before hardcore pornography became legally available in my native country of Belgium. Unfortunately, this third installment is by far the weakest of the lot. The story is tired and largely devoid of interest, picking up lazily where part 2 left off with yet more trials and tribulations from the open marriage shared by Emmanuelle and Jean. Pretty pictures of the Seychelles will make you long for your next summer holiday but Serge Gainsbourg's repetitive soundtrack, consisting of two (count 'em!) endlessly rehashed theme tunes, will have you throwing any object within immediate reach at the telly by the halfway point.Thankfully, Dutch goddess Sylvia Kristel was still around to essay the title character, dropping her already skimpy wardrobe at the slightest urging. She's the main reason why I still watch whenever this one pops up on late night TV, along with the pleasingly undraped appearances by the late Olga Georges-Picot – who, sadly, chose to end her own life as years progressed and fading beauty presumably left her unemployed – and Charlotte Alexandra who played the title role in Catherine Breillat's sulfurous UNE VRAIE JEUNE FILLE.Unless you're a completist (in which case you may need professional help as much as, well, I do), stick to the original and its glossy first sequel or parts 4 (featuring hymen restoration in Brazil long before this became a medical possibility), 6 (scripted by Jean Rollin, so you know proceedings are going to get pretty screwy) or the elusive virtual reality themed 7 with Kristel returning and even dressing up as a nun – perhaps inspired by BLACK EMANUELLE Laura Gemser's similar travesty in Giuseppe Vari's SISTER EMANUELLE ? – for the film's unforgettable final scene !

After the titillatingly groovy sexy title song "Emmanuelle, Emmanuelle, Emmanuelle goodbye" sung by a husky-voiced Jane Birkin, along with Serge Gainsbourg it simply stays in your head long after the credits have rolled. Oh it's a hard one to shake off. The third feature of the official French "Emmanuelle" series is a step-down from the previous two entries starring Sylvia Kristel as Emmanuelle, mainly on its concentration for the story dramatics than the sexual context. That's not a bad thing, because is a perfectly realized story. Much more grounded, but quite reflective and still adventurous in more ways than one. The erotica is tastefully done, as the sex scenes are watered-down and briskly concluded, but it still has Emmanuelle with her swinging husband openly experimenting with their sexual desires. However how this one changes, is now Emmanuelle begins to question/or have second thoughts about this free-spirited lifestyle her husband encouraged when the arrival of a film director gains her interest. What starts off as a curiosity with the stranger becomes a lot more, where Emmanuelle and her husband rock-solid relationship of keeping no secrets begins to show cracks --- and jealously rears its ugly head.Director Francois Letterier beautifully scenic direction of a pristine Seychelle is elegantly captured and presents a strikingly lush local flavour. The exotic music score is melodic, fitting the mellow tone. The performances are perfectly etched as the enticingly stunning Sylvia Kristel (a true goddess) shows not only she has a seductress pull, but can carry a film with a strong liberated performance. Umberto Orsini and Jean-Pierre Bouvier are solid too.

"Goodbye Emmanuelle" is considered by many to be the last "official" entry in the "Emmanuelle" series. This time around, the action shifts to the beautiful and exotic Seychilles Islands, where the lovely and sexually liberated Emmanuelle finds herself questioning her beliefs about sex, and about love. This elegantly filmed third installment begins like the others, with the architect's wife meeting and having sexual encounters with the attractive cast of men and women on the island. Before long however, the film shifts gears, when a young and extremely handsome film director enters the picture, and awakens in Emmanuelle, some feelings that she thought had long ago been buried. "Goodbye Emmanuelle" is the perfect final chapter in the series, wrapping everything up in a smart, believable way. This moral fable makes the point that open relationships, complete with anonymous sex, can become a very lonely and sad way to live. Emmanuelle begins to realize that her husband's guise of carefree sexuality, is merely a way to hide his own insecurities. When put to the test, he fails miserably, by resorting to petty lies and games to hold onto the woman, that he realizes too late, really loves and depends on. If this does not sound like the storyline for an erotic film, it is because this is not really an erotic film. The sex scenes are kept to a minimum, and when there is an erotic scene, the camera does not linger for long. In fact, these scenes appear to have been a mere after-thought, taking a back seat to the more serious drama at hand.Viewed as a stand-alone feature, "Goodbye Emmanuelle" plays like a slightly above-average melodrama, it's gorgeous cinematography elevating it a cut above the rest. But when viewed in context with the other two films in the series, this becomes something very special indeed. For during these three very different films, we see this character "Emmanuelle" evolve continually. In the first chapter, Emmanuelle is a young and innocent girl, with somewhat traditional views on sexuality and marriage. She is taught, by various friends about open marriage, and carnal desire. In part 2, Emmanulle has traded her short, severe hairstyle, for a long, flowing mane of red hair, indicating her newfound "freedom." Viewing these two films back to back, it is amazing how different she is in the second installment. By the time she settles down in the Seychilles with her husband, she has changed yet again, and she no longer carries herself with the same air of self confidence. Rather, she appears to be uncertain about the direction of her life. Perhaps Sylvia Kristel was not given enough credit for her acting abilities. She carries these films alone, and does an unforgettable job lending this fictional character an authenticity seldom seen in film. For fans of the series, "Goodbye Emmanuelle" is a must-see. Of the three films, (or four if you include Emmanuelle IV) is the most understated, and most elegantly-filmed of the series. For a change, many will notice that the men are attractive here as well as the women. The whole cast is in fact quite beautiful. It is a somewhat rare title, but the DVD from the Netherlands is the highest quality edition available, presented in a gorgeous 2;35 aspect ratio, and featuring the original French audio. It is the only way to watch these special films.

This is a surprisingly moving last edition of the original Emmanuelle trilogy, with the title character becoming tired of her complaisant husband and the endless rounds of meaningless swinger sex she is expected to engage in whilst living in their paradise home in the Seychelles. A hunky young film director comes to the Island to scout locations, and one look into his eyes (whilst she is being schtupped by some random shag) reminds Emmanuelle what it is really like to be desired by and to desire an individual. Much to the chagrin of her husband, Emmanuelle embarks on a sexual romance with the director and finds that he stirs emotional feelings and needs which she thought her years of swinging had deadened. By the end of the film, she is ready to put all of that behind her and head for the new pastures of a monogamous, committed relationship.Compared to the low smut and tasteless hardcore of much erotic cinema, Goodbye, Emmanuelle is undoubtedly high-class product. The film, shot in luscious 'scope and finely showing the travelogue beauty of the Seychelles, is gorgeous to look at and beautifully composed. Moreover, the performances of Kristel and Umberto Orsini as Emmanuelle and her husband have real depth and emotional truth. He especially well conveys the dumb incomprehension of a complaisant roué whose free love slogans are a mask for old fashioned chauvinism and ownership values and who feels the tug of jealousy for the last time, too late in fact as his smug indifference catches up with him and he loses the person he shares his life with. His final gambit - lying to Emmanuelle about phone calls and letters from her lover - is the nearest the Emmanuelle series gets to gripping drama, and it's satisfying to see the ropey old swinger get dumped as he fully deserves.This is an odd, resigned, bitter-sweet end to the original Kristel trilogy. It could be said that the series makers are rather having their cake and eating it - that, having made a fortune from promoting lubricious excess and preaching sexual freedom, to have their heroine reject these values and plump for monogamy is rather rich coming from them. But the seventies were an age in which people realised that the sexual revolution got people high but had its come-down; that endless freedom to shag whoever you want is a prison cell not a freedom road. Even more intriguing are the subtle glimpses of the colonialism which allows the wealthy Emmanuelle and partner to indulge their jaded desires - a native caddie revealed at the far side of the frame, a garage with a Shell sign, a mention of the spice trade and pirates with black slaves. The characters live in a paradise which a snake had long ago poisoned. This is poignant social history, and feels the right kind of end to a dream in silk sheets.