Death of Just Jaeckin, the director of Emmanuelle, at the age of 82

French filmmaker and photographer Just Jaeckin, who directed the hit erotic film Emmanuelledied on Tuesday at the age of 82, a family spokeswoman told AFP on Wednesday.

“Just Jaeckin, the director of Emmanuelle with Sylvia Kristel died on September 6 in Brittany following a long illness at the age of 82 (…) He died surrounded by his wife Anne, sculptor, and his daughter Julia, photographer”, his agent said in a statement.

The film, which enjoyed international success, from Japan to the United States, tells the sexual adventures of a young woman in Asia. Emmanuellethe biggest hit of 1974 in France with nearly 9 million admissions, was shown on the Champs-Élysées in Paris for thirteen years.

A societal phenomenon, the film has been seen in cinemas by several tens of millions of spectators all over the world, many more if we take other media into account.

Available today for rental on the Amazon platform, “Emmanuelle” had been available for a time in 2020 on Netflix. Not recommended for those under 16, the film was presented as a “romantic” opus.

Emmanuelle had been adapted from an erotic bestseller of the same name, written by Emmanuelle Arsan in 1959. The producer, Yves Rousset-Rouard, wishing to entrust the project to a young director, contacted the photographer Just Jaeckin, delighted to shoot a feature film.

Just Jaeckin will then direct history of O and, again with Sylvia Kristel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

This success, however, “disturbed and overshadowed the multifaceted talent” of the photographer, advertising director and sculptor he was before becoming the director ofEmmanuelleaccording to those around him.

Born in 1940 in Vichy, Just Jaeckin was also the owner, with his wife, of an art gallery in Paris where they exhibited paintings and sculptures, including their own.