The Emma Marx series has been an AVN Award magnet since its debut, winning Best BDSM Movie for its first volume, then picking up three awards for its second (including Best Actress for Penny Pax) and five awards for the third.

The fourth volume continues to exhibit the same level of excellence that garnered Jacky St. James the Best Director – Feature award, plus honors for screenplay, cinematography, editing and soundtrack. The awards are a measure of just how different Emma Marx is from standard adult fare. For one thing, this is a bona fide series, with a compelling storyline and characters that are worth caring about. For another, it’s not a parody—which sets it apart from other ambitious adult movies. Quietly and professionally, the Emma Marx team holds itself to the highest standards and delivers top-notch entertainment. And it literally is told from a female point of view—written and directed by a woman, and focused on the messy and contradictory desires of three female characters.

Those new to Emma’s search for sexual fulfillment can pick up the storyline here, but they’d be doing themselves a disservice not to first watch at the very least the previous volume, The Submission of Emma Marx: Exposed, which in this reviewer’s opinion is still the high water mark of the series. But even seen as a standalone movie, Evolved offers great acting from the returning cast (Pax, Riley Reid, Van Wylde) while bringing in a new character to interact with Emma.

Now living with her sister after the death of her Dom, Mr. Frederick (Richie Calhoun), in Exposed, Emma becomes curious about their roommate, the bristly, secretive Mariah (Violet Starr, who is just terrific—both her acting and sexual pyrotehnics). Turns out Mariah’s got a taste for BDSM, so Emma—who has put that part of her life away—breaks out some favorite gear and begins to train the young wanna-be sub. We get to see Starr in two sex scenes: one in which she’s just playing with dominance and submission, and a second one in which she has learned about the deeper meanings of the dom/sub relationship. But it’s not just Mariah who evolves. Emma herself begins to change, exploring at first tentatively the idea of letting her submissive role go.

Along the way, the audience is treated to high-caliber acting and four sex scenes. Reid and Wylde give their all in a hate fuck, Starr sparkles in the aforementioned boy/girl scenes, and the finale is a full-throttle three-way, complete with d.p., that has Pax pummeled by Mick Blue and John Strong. Once again, a quality package all the way around.