RIP Sylvia Kristel

 

Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, best known to the world as the sensual, globe-trotting heroine of the Emmanuelle films, died in Amsterdam on October 17 at the age of 60. After beginning her career as a model in the Netherlands, Kristel got her big break as the title character of the French erotic sensation Emmanuelle, which spawned numerous sequels and even more imitators. Kristel reprised her role in four subsequent Emmanuelle features, as well as continuing on to play the character in a series of made-for-French-television movies in the early 1990s. She re-teamed with the director of the original Emmanuelle, Just Jaeckin, in a saucy, English-language adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1981 before starring in a pair of American sex comedies (Private Lessons and Private School, no relation). Kristel's other notable films include Walerian Borowczyk's La marge opposite Joe Dallesandro; Roger Vadim's second, "unofficial" adaptation of Les liaisons dangereuses, Une femme fidèle; Claude Chabrol's loose adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, Alice ou la dernière fugue; Alain Robbe-Grillet's surreal mystery Le jeu avec le feu (Playing with Fire); the American espionage spoof, The Nude Bomb; Curtis Harrington's trashy Mata Hari film; and Fons Rademakers' dark thriller Because of the Cats.

Even More DVD Updates: Joe Dallesandro, Alain Robbe-Grillet

Eric announced earlier Mondo Macabre's announcement that they were releasing Alain Robbe-Grillet's Gradiva. Now it's been officially set for 25 August. Another Ryko title coming out on the same date is Fernando Di Leo's Vacation Massacre [Vacanze per un massacro], an action film with Joe Dallesandro from Midnight Choir. Also look for Ralph Bakshi's Fire and Ice on DVD the same day from Blue Underground.

The first of three Coco Chanel films coming out soon, entitled simply Coco Chanel, will hit DVD on 7 July from Screen Media Films. This one was made-for-television and stars Shirley MacLaine and Barbora Bobulova as the fashion designer. Speaking of Chanel, does anyone know if William Friedkin's biopic was scrapped? I had read he was casting Marina Hands as Chanel, but what I remember reading sounds a lot like Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, the closer of this year's Cannes Film Festival with Anna Mouglalis instead of Hands. Anyway, Venevision is releasing Carlos Sorin's Bombón el perro on 14 July. Film Movement is releasing his more recent The Window [La ventana] later this year as well.

Miramax has set a date for the Blu-ray of Pulp Fiction, set for 4 August. I don't know any specifics about the disc, unfortunately. Showtime will have the second season of their brilliant This American Life, which translates surprisingly well onscreen, out on 21 July. Zeitgeist's Oscar-nominated Trouble the Water comes out 25 August as well. Menemesha Films is releasing Jan Hrebejk's Beauty in Trouble [Kráska v nesnázích] on 8 September.

And finally, a few more Magnolia discs have been announced: Robert Kenner's Food, Inc. on 15 September; Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience on 15 September; The Mutant Chronicles on DVD and Blu-ray 4 August; Kirby Dick's Outrage on 15 September; and Thanakorn Pongsuwan's Demon Warriors on 4 August.