Just Jaeckin, director of "Emmanuelle" and of "Story of O"

French filmmaker and photographer Just Jaeckin, best known for his erotic film “Emmanuelle,” died 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 due to a long illness, at the age of 82 (…) He died surrounded by his wife Anne, a sculptor, and his daughter Julia, a photographer”, his agent said in a statement.

The film, released in 1974, had a great international success, from Japan to the United States, and recounts the sexual adventures of a young woman in Asia.

It was the highest grossing film of the year in France, with close to 9 million viewers, and It was shown for thirteen years on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

Social phenomenon, the film was seen in the cinema by tens of millions of viewers, and many more if you count other media.

“Emmanuelle” It was an adaptation of an erotic bestseller of the same name, written by Emmanuelle Arsan in 1959.

The producer, Yves Rousset-Rouard, who wanted to entrust the project to a young director, commissioned Just Jaeckin, photographer with no experience in feature films.

Just Jaeckin then filmed two other high-voltage sexual movies, “The Story of O” and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”“, again with Sylvia Kristel.

The film was at risk of being censored in France, but with the death of President Georges Pompidou, a new Secretary of State for Culture was appointed, which allowed the premiere without cuts.

The success was so sensational that other films were shot that borrowed the name of the protagonist, with more racy arguments.

Born in 1940 in Vichy (centre), Just Jaeckin owned, together with his wife, an art gallery in Paris where they basically exhibited their own paintings and sculptures.

The star of the film, Sylvia Kristel, saw how her name was inextricably linked to that of the film and the director.

He had drug and alcohol problems, and had to combat rumors of all kinds, including an alleged affair with President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, which he denied.

Kristel died in 2012 of cancer, at the age of 60. Six years earlier she had published her autobiography, “Nude.”

“Sylvia was a wonderful woman, very pure, very naive. She lived up to her last name, ‘Kristel’. She was overwhelmed, as I was, by the commotion Emmanuelle caused. It marked her, it was very hard for her “Jaeckin explained to AFP in 2012, on the occasion of the death of the actress.