Sylvia Christel began her career as a model, but made her world famous for her main role in the provocative film Emmanuelle (1974). In her declining years, the star of the movie erotica of the 70s could not answer the main question of her life: what did this role become for her, luck or a curse?
Childhood and youth
Contrary to popular belief, Sylvia Christel is not at all French. She was born on September 28, 1952 in the small Dutch town of Utrecht. Sylvia's parents owned a hotel; they devoted all their time to work and almost did not deal with raising children. The girl was only nine years old when she was almost raped by the hotel administrator, which left an imprint on the fragile psyche of the child. Sylvia became uncontrollable, capable of a variety of actions.
Sylvia was sent to a Catholic boarding school, but they could not fix her complex character there. A few years later, after the divorce of her parents, she finally realized that no one needed it, and firmly decided to become famous at all costs. To begin with, Sylvia decided to participate in beauty contests and soon won the titles "Miss Dutch Television" and "Miss Television Europe."
Creative career
Sylvia Christel played her first movie roles in 1973. And a year later, she was invited to the main role by director-debutant Juste Jacques. All the actresses to whom he addressed, after reading the script, categorically refused. Sylvia agreed. True, before every turn on the camera, she drank a glass of champagne to look more relaxed in candid scenes, and in special cases she even had to smoke marijuana.
At first, the film was banned, as too frank, but after changing the ruling elite, Emmanuelle was still released. Critics smashed the film to smithereens, but on the contrary, the audience was delighted, lining up in front of the cinema in kilometer-long lines. Sylvia Kristel overnight turned into a superstar. Intoxicated by success, she did not immediately realize that she had become a hostage to a single role. Subsequently, Sylvia starred in numerous sequels of "Emmanuel", the scandalous fame of this series of films did not fade until the 90s, and all the other roles of the actress faded against this background. In her memoirs, Sylvia admitted: “The role that I dreamed of as a springboard bound me forever. My body became more important than my words. I became an actress in silent films, trimmed, devoid of everything that forms an individual.”
