Sister Emanuelle (1977)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Quite what has driven once insatiable nympho Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) to renounce her sinful past and don wimple and habit to become a nun is never revealed, but that is how we find her at the start of Sister Emanuelle; together with fellow nun Cecile, she has travelled to Venice to escort Monica (Mónica Zanchi), the teenage daughter of a rich Baron, to the convent for schooling.Monica turns out to be far from the 'sweet little girl' that her father describes her as, however, doing her utmost to subvert both her new room-mate, Anna (Vinja Locatelli) and poor Emanuelle, who finds her resolve weakening when faced with temptation from the sexy, free-spirited, bi-sexual schoolgirl.Sister Emanuelle might not be as nasty or shocking as some of the other titles in the Black Emanuelle series (there's nothing in it as sensational or sleazy as the pseudo snuff, animal action or hardcore coupling of Emanuelle in America, for example), but it still manages to be one of the more enjoyable adventures for the sultry sexpot thanks to its surprisingly well written screenplay by Marino Onorati, competent direction from Giuseppe Vari, and perhaps most importantly, an outstanding performance from Zanchi: whether it be fellating a total stranger on a train, cuddling up naked next to Emanuelle or Anna on a stormy night, or sneaking wanted criminal Rene (Gabriele Tinti) to the convent tower for a spot of rumpy pumpy, gorgeous Zanchi plays her role as deviant minx Monica to perfection.Strangely, the film ends with one of those 'it was all a dream endings' of the type that usually make me livid, but which in this case only serves to make the whole affair a more memorable experience, pushing my already high rating of 7.5 up to a bona fide 8.

In its entirety, as far as such can be ascertained, the BLACK EMANUELLE series certainly shapes up as an odd collection of sorts. Its "official" entries, and remember that we're already dealing with an Italian rip-off of a French film franchise, have been generously supplemented by tangentially tied-in trifles where the mere presence of Indonesian leading lady Laura Gemser gave rise to an impromptu affiliation, often through adversely affixing the EMANUELLE moniker regardless of narrative consistency. Henceforth, Enzio D'Ambrosio's sedate LA SPIAGGIA DEL DESIDERIO was widely released as EMANUELLE ON TABOO ISLAND, Mario Bianchi's genteel COUNTRY NURSE got far more play dates as EMANUELLE IN THE COUNTRY and German Christian Anders' severely twisted LOVE CAMP became DIVINE EMANUELLE. No mean feat considering Gemser's character isn't actually called Emanuelle in any of these !Whilst a bit of a mongrel, at least SUOR EMANUELLE remains relatively close to the trajectory mapped out by Bitto Albertini in the initial installment and, especially, the shameless Joe D'Amato in its bona fide sequels. Turning her back on a wicked past, which seasoned viewers will automatically associate with her globe-trotting, absolutely anything for a scoop wanton ways as the intrepid photo journalist, Emanuelle has entered the convent, doling out spiritual succor to the wayward young girls in her charge. She definitely has her work cut out for her with feisty Monica Catsabriaga (Monica Zanchi) who was caught in flagrante with her hot new step mom (delectable D'Amato regular Dirce Funari, who was in both PORNO HOLOCAUST and EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD) by her elderly businessman father, played by Spaghetti western veteran Rik Battaglia. Poor Em's vow of chastity barely survives the train ride back to the nunnery when a very nude Monica slips between her sheets to seek solace from the raging thunderstorm outside ! Somewhat surprising for such an exploitative type of cinema, the good sister's devotion is actually handled with a degree of seriousness. She only reluctantly surrenders to escaped convict René (adequately portrayed by her then real life husband Gabriele Tinti) when the mischievous Monica tricks her into believing that he will otherwise forcefully take the maidenhead of her pious roommate Anna. Once she learns of this betrayal, Emanuelle literally lets her hair down and, well, kicks the habit, reverting back to the sign of the crotch in a last ditch attempt to straighten out the incorrigible teen seductress. With Gemser's sensational slender frame (predating the present day supermodel ideal) perversely covered up until the final act, most of the film's ample nudity's supplied by succulent Swiss starlet Zanchi, a memorable presence in both D'Amato's over the top EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS and Mario Gariazzo's saucy space opera THE COMING OF ALIENS. Her temptation of Anna (lovely one shot Vinja Locatelli), who assumes she's a mere obstacle on the road to sainthood, provides an effective combination of heat and humor, indicative of the narrative tone's gradual shift from semi-serious to fully fledged fun.The lightness of touch, which precludes anything really nasty happening to anyone, makes for a welcome change of pace from Emanuelle's past adventures, too frequently interrupted by rape and assorted violent outbursts for comfort. One reason for this is that the late Giuseppe Vari a/k/a "Joseph Warren" was hardly a sex flick regular and therefore perhaps less jaded than the dyed in the wool D'Amato. He was rather a workmanlike if dependable dispenser of varied genre fare like ROME AGAINST ROME a/k/a WAR OF THE ZOMBIES and DJANGO THE LAST KILLER, whose only other foray into risqué territory was his frothy RIBALD DECAMERON with the magnificent Malisa Longo. Further explanation for the film's idiosyncratic flavor amid the EMANUELLE canon comes from the man responsible for its commendably coherent screenplay, Marino Onorati, whose stock in trade is all sweetness and light as evidenced by his scripts for most of the major Italian sex comedy superstars like Edwige Fenech on various SCHOOLTEACHER and POLICEWOMAN projects and Gloria Guida as LA LICEALE. Hazy soft focus photography by Guglielmo Mancori, who shot Umberto Lenzi's underrated giallo SPASMO as well as Lucio Fulci's badly bungled MANHATTAN BABY, elevate this effort to a loftier level of cinematic carnality. Stelvio Cipriani's infuriatingly infectious score, practically screaming Seventies Euro sleaze at the top of its lungs, provides the icing on the cake for any none too self-respecting old school skin flick aficionado.

Monica (Mónica Zanchi) is a very naughty girl. She gets caught with her young stepmother (Dirce Funari) - "But, dad, you told me to be friends with her!" - and is sent off to boarding school run by nuns. One nun in particular is Sister Emanuelle (Laura Gemser, a veteran of many "Emanuelle" films).Monica proceeds to seduce her roommate(Vinja Locatelli), sets up an escaped criminal (Gabriele Tinti) in the tower, and tricks Sister Emanuelle into breaking her vowels as she lies and schemes.The sex is hot and heavy - schoolgirl on schoolgirl, criminal on schoolgirl, and criminal on nun. There isn't much to distract from the sex as there is little else going on.It's a good story with a really funny twist at the end.

There is a lot of variety in the Emanuelle series, and as such; a lot of strange and rather silly ideas; but having Laura Gemser dressed up as a nun and living in a convent is surely one of the silliest! I'd even go as far as to say that this plot could be considered blasphemous! Clearly, this film is just an attempt by director Giuseppe Vari to cash in on both the Emanuelle series and the nunsploitation wave in one fell swoop, and as is the case with a lot of the Emanuelle flicks; the only thing that really ties this film to the rest of the series is the lovely leading lady, Laura Gemser. Apparently, Emanuelle has decided to renounce her shady past and has taken up residency inside a convent. She is given the task of looking after the young and beautiful Monica; a girl who was dropped off at the convent by her wealthy father. However, it's not long before the young girl's outlook on life begins to rub off on the previously promiscuous "nun" and Emanuelle begins to question whether or not being a woman of God is actually a suitable career path...In the context of the rest of the series, and considering that there is no explanation for Emanuelle's sudden change of attitude, it has to be said that the plot line featured in this film is absurdly ridiculous. However, the film clearly isn't meant to be looked at that way and as a stand alone nunsploitation flick; Sister Emanuelle is excellent, and by far my favourite of the ten or so Emanuelle flicks that I've seen. The film does represent a real change of pace for the series as for most of the film; Emanuelle is retracted to a nun's habit and doesn't feature in as many sex scenes as we're used to. That isn't a big problem, however, as this time Laura Gemser is joined by the beautiful Swiss actress Mónica Zanchi, who pretty much takes up the lead role. Unlike most Emanuelle films also, this one actually has a couple of themes going on; namely, the corruption of innocence, and judging by the ambiguous ending, there also seems to be something in there about how a person like Emanuelle is not going to be able to abandon what it is she stands for. Overall, this is a very good little film and comes highly recommended to both Emanuelle fans and exploitation fans in general!