Audrey Diwan's Emmanuelle (2024), starring Noémie Merlant as the titular protagonist, reimagines the iconic erotic franchise as a contemplative exploration of female desire, set against the backdrop of a luxurious Southeast Asian resort. Here, the gaze moves from male centrality and pleasure of the past Emmanuelle to self-reflective feminine gaze. Drawing on semiotic theory—particularly Roland Barthes' concepts of denotation (literal image) and connotation (cultural meaning)—this analysis focuses on the film's visual symbolism. Diwan employs a restrained, dreamlike aesthetic, cinematography by Laurent Tangy, to signify the tension between opulent excess and internal repression. Visual signs such as pristine architecture, symbolic objects, color palettes, and camera movements construct a narrative of elusive gratification, where pleasure is both promised and perpetually deferred. Poster: Emmanuelle (2024) The Luxury Hotel as a Signifier of Controlled Desire The film...