Noémie Merlant found she had a lot in common with her character in Emmanuelle.

Her involvement in Audrey Diwan‘s new film, in the titular role, was so influential that she says it helped her re-examine her own relationship with female pleasure. “Like Emmanuelle, I was completely disconnected with my body,” the French actress tells The Hollywood Reporter.

With its world premiere opening the San Sebastian Film Festival Friday night, Emmanuelle has received buzz for its graphic content. Diwan’s movie, starring Naomi Watts (Mullholland Drive, Birdman), Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) and Jamie Campbell Bower (Stranger Things), is inspired by Emmanuelle Arsan’s erotic novel — and this eroticism certainly helms the project.

Emmanuelle focuses on a woman on a business trip to Hong Kong working with a luxury hotel group. Searching for a lost pleasure, she seeks her arousal in experiences with some of the hotel’s guests. One of them,...