Emmanuelle, a "girl" in her 20s, played by Sylvia Kristel, is an authentic and plausible character, who gives you the impression that she could in fact be experiencing the many erotic adventures - amongst them many lesbian encounters – which she embarks upon in Thailand. Maybe it helps to point out that Sylvia Kristel, born in 1952 in a small town in the Netherlands, was brought up in a very strict Calvinist family and went on to study English, in hopes of becoming a teacher, before she ran away from home, giving up all she had had, defying all of her relatives and friends, and started working as a model from the 1970s on in Amsterdam. <br /><br />In her first Emmanuelle film (a French erotic film), she acts the role of her life, becoming famous immediately in France, and soon thereafter in the world. <br /><br />She plays a young married lady, the wife of an ambassador, living in Thailand with her husband. There, she experiences many erotic adventures with and without him. The intriguing fact is that her husband encourages her to do so; he would like her to "improve" her sexuality and gain experience, ultimately learning to differentiate between love and sex. <br /><br />Sylvia Kristel plays Emmanuelle with such authenticity, and with the vulnerability and timidness, only a young woman of her age, lacking sexual experience, could have. In summary, she doesn't give you the impression that she is doing yet another boring porno- flick, where she is forced to do "some acting", in order for the movie to HAVE a plot, other than gynecological nudity scenes, or 3-minute "sex-adventures". The countless sequels to this first Emmanuelle film certainly don't measure up to the artistic standard - or even to the erotic standard - of this one. <br /><br />If you are willing to forget that it seems unrealistic that a young lady sleeps with other women and men, while her husband encourages her to do so, you are in for a really sensual and - for guys, a very realistic - account of what an unreserved, 20 year old, bi-curious girl might really experience in Thailand; the country of erotic massages and exotic climate.