Seinfeld Declassified Episode 21: Is Rochelle Rochelle based on a real film?

What’s up, guys? I hope you’re as excited as I am because we have arrived at the epic season finale. So the episode kicks off with jerry and george coming under fire after injuring bette midler & putting her out of commission just before starring in rochelle rochelle the musical. Now we know the film & subsequent musical adaptation is fictional but was there any real-life inspiration behind this young girl’s stranger, erotic journey from milan to minsk?

Well, as it turns out, there just might be. Legend has it producers based the concept on some old film from the 70’s, Emmanuelle. Without going into too many details (because this is a family show), the plot essentially mirrors that of rochelle rochelle wherein a young girl blossoms into a woman by having a tryst with a man in another country. Interestingly enough, it is based on a novel by a woman of the same name (although it was later claimed that her husband actually wrote it) & it was the first columbia pictures film to receive an x rating.

It got negative reviews but still managed to spawn an entire trilogy. I guess one of the writers was a big fan of the film or something. It’s definitely a weird reference to make but we are not here to judge. The important thing to note is this case has been closed. So that’s about all I have for you guys today but thank you so much for reading. Have a great day & I will see you back here tomorrow for a brand new episode of SD. Until then, this is the x factor signing off.