Marc Dorcel Celebrates 35 Years of Erotica

PARIS—Next month, the company that is synonymous with the evocative style of adult entertainment known as Pornochic will reach a major milestone. Marc Dorcel—both the man and the French adult entertainment powerhouse that bears his moniker—will celebrate 35 years of sensual movies and other adult fare. In 1979, after having titillated France with full-color erotic still photography, Marc Dorcel got an opportunity to translate his glossy photography into video. The company Marc Dorcel was born with the release of Sweet Little Bitches, the first adult movie produced and directed by its namesake. According to the historians at Dorcel, success struck like lightning, with sex shops fighting over the movie and selling it at premium prices. The cultural climate at the time explains this enthusiasm: a law relegating adult films to specialized theaters ensured the success of the adult home video. Many other productions followed, some with an assist from Michel Barny and Michel Ricaud, to help Dorcel grow to its current size: a catalog of 800-plus movies distributed worldwide, exporting erotic fare featuring pretty girls, beautiful lingerie and sumptuous decor. In 1996, Dorcel's son Gregory joined his father and eventually became managing director of the company in 2000. The duo worked well together and grew the company to the point where it has a presence in more than 56 countries while maintaining its signature style. Thoughout the years Dorcel has continued to diversify. The company has created many successful series and worked with mainstream celebrities. And on top of its core video products, Dorcel has launched three television channels, a magazine, adult shops and a collection of pleasure products. A trend-setter since its creation, Marc Dorcel has always evolved to technological advances while keeping true to its refined and very French vision of eroticism. It is even said that the success of Dorcel's VHS tapes contributed to the rise of the video recorder in France. This passion for tech has never faded. Whether the developments were in DVD production, pay TV or internet, Marc Dorcel has always been in the vanguard. When VOD services took off in 2008, the Dorcelvision platform was already 8 years old. MyDorcel.com made its mark in the summer of 2010 when, the company claims, Marc Dorcel offered the first adult crowdfunding operation. More than a thousand online fans participated in the production of the movie Mademoiselle de Paris. Within 78 hours of the launch, the coproduction share reserved for web users had already been collected. In another big leap forwrd, Marc Dorcel offered 3D content on TV in 2010 and on VOD in 2011. When launching its ground-breaking adult website by and for women, Marc Dorcel showed that he could move forward with the times. By offering content that appeals to men and women, Dorcel has created pornography that is a true entertainment product rather than illicitly sold fare that is watched on the sly. "In 35 years, Dorcel has seen customs and technologies evolve. And since the explosion of the internet, porn is not only confined to sex shops and specialized theaters," said managing director Gregory Dorcel. "Pornography has now invaded the private sphere and has become a mass phenomenon, widespread in all backgrounds. More than 20 years after the first adult movie broadcast on TV, it is not shameful anymore to like porn and to admit it. Moreover, adult contents were for a long time reserved to a male audience, whereas now they tend to target a more feminine audience that wishes for even higher quality programs, until becoming an integral part of the couple's sexuality." Today Dorcel continues to lead with productions helmed by top directors and featuring major stars from around the world. The company's titles are available in the United States via its distributor, Wicked Pictures. And its tradition of award-winning titles continued unabated at the most recent AVN Awards Show last January, with wins for The Ingenuous in three categories (Best Foreign Feature, Best Director – Foreign Feature, and Best Sex Scene in a Foreign Shot Production) as well as Best Foreign Non-Feature for Claire Castel: The Chambermaid.