Skip to main content
Drama Cult Classic

A seventeen-year-old's return sparks a web of seduction in 1928 English countryside.

EMILY

1976 · 1h 27m · R · Drama / Romance · IMDB TMDB

The year is 1928 and Emily, aged seventeen, returns home from school in Switzerland. At her family estate in the English countryside, it seems everyone is trying to seduce her.

5,471 FilmsIn The Vault
Vault UpdatedDaily
Curated ByHumans
No AlgorithmBullsh*t
Vault Note

From the vault: where finishing school lessons meet English country intrigue.

Programmer's Pick

Emily serves up period romance with a provocative edge, setting its coming-of-age tale against the lush backdrop of 1928 England. Koo Stark leads a cast tangled in desire and awkward family ties, while the countryside estate becomes a playground for temptation. It's a distinctly British cocktail of class, innocence, and intrigue.

— SassyFlix Programmer
Quick Answer
What is Emily about?

Emily is a 1976 United Kingdom drama and romance film directed by Henry Herbert about a seventeen-year-old American-born girl navigating adult desires after returning home from finishing school to her mother's country estate in 1928.

Synopsis

Emily Foster (Koo Stark) is an American-born seventeen-year-old brought up in London. Her father died when she was a small child, while her mother, Margaret Foster (Sarah Brackett), is supported by a lover. The film, set in 1928, follows Emily as she returns home from a finishing school in Switzerland to her mother's country house in the English countryside, where she meets several characters who would like to seduce her, and follows her induction into sensual pleasures. The film follows her interactions with these adult pursuers. Richard Walker (Victor Spinetti), her mother's lover, is a middle-aged man-about-town who quietly sets his sights on Emily, while a young American writer and schoolteacher named James Wise (Richard Oldfield) tries to impress her by sensual acrobatics in his flying machine. However, her first sexual experience is an encounter with a woman — Augustine Wain (Ina Skriver), a Swedish painter who lives nearby. Emily then later "loses her virginity" in the heterocentric sense to Wain's husband, Rupert Wain (Constantin de Goguel) in a scene indicating penetrative sex.

Meanwhile, perhaps intended to mark the contrast in the sexual mores of the different British classes at the time, housemaid Rachel (Jane Hayden) and her soldier boyfriend Billy (David Auker) are engaged to be married, but Rachel tries to insist on waiting until after their wedding before they have sexual intercourse.
Details & Specs
Director
Henry Herbert
Writer
Christopher Neame
Release
1976
Runtime
1h 27m
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Genres
Drama, Romance
Also Known As
The Awakening of Emily

Why Cult

Jazz Age England

Set in 1928, the film immerses you in the opulence and social maneuvering of the late Roaring Twenties countryside.

Koo Stark Lead

Koo Stark stars as Emily Foster, anchoring the film with her portrayal of innocence and curiosity amidst adult intentions.

Sensual Coming-of-Age

Emily's induction into adult pleasures and tangled relationships brings a provocative spin to the classic coming-of-age plot.

Questions from the Vault

What is Emily about? +

Emily follows a seventeen-year-old girl, newly returned from Swiss finishing school, as she navigates a web of seduction and desire in her mother's English country house in 1928.

When was Emily released? +

Emily was released in 1976.

Who directed Emily? +

Emily was directed by Henry Herbert.

How long is Emily? +

Emily has a runtime of 87 minutes.

What genre is Emily? +

Emily is a drama and romance film.

Where can I watch Emily? +

Emily is available to stream on SassyFlix.