The Great Unpacking Of Love
Part 12

Scene 10

Love, infidelity, tenderness, fidelitydixit Clara and Gauthier

Why does s*x occupy our minds so much?

Because it is the supreme escape

It is the ultimate path to absolute self-oblivion

Jiddu Krishnamurti

S*x? I don’t know anything about it, I’m a married man

Jacques Dutronc

My wife is very into s*x

Unfortunately, it’s not mine

Pierre Desproges

Eroticism requires a slightly sublimated obscenity,

a poetic obscenity

Boris Vian

Only the beating in unison of s*x and the heart can create ecstasy

Anaïs Nin

After love, ten percent of men

turn over on their right side and sleep,

ten percent do the same on their left side

The others get dressed and return home

Francis Blanche

— Do you believe in the couple’s fidelity, Gauthier?

– Yes of course. Remember on your wedding day, you took an oath before the priest pledging to remain faithful to Mathieu, whatever the ups and downs of life.

Why are you asking me this question?

— Because I have doubts. I wonder if loyalty was not created from scratch by men.

— Marriage and fidelity appeared in ancient Rome to perpetuate the human race. Yes, we can say that it is a human invention.

— If I come back to Sartre and Beauvoir, did you know Gauthier, that very quickly, they no longer had an intimate life? Each found pleasure in extramarital relations of which they kept each other informed. Simone de Beauvoir will also reveal, in one of her writings, the poor lover that Sartre was.

At that time, the libertine couple refusing any straitjacket, such as marriage, and advocating their total freedom, shocked public opinion.

But I wonder and try to understand why they stayed together until they died? I admit that I remain quite doubtful.

— You know Clara, each couple writes their own story which may seem incomprehensible to the outside world. Who really knows what happens between two lovers? Think about it, you certainly know couples who seemed perfect, idyllic to you, whom you even envied, and who, to everyone’s amazement, announced their breakup.

— It’s true, I share your opinion. But you don’t answer my question. Why do you think they never moved away from each other even though they lived as two fleshly strangers? What’s more, everyone will taste other skins.

— I think that this mythical couple shared a common intelligence, a taste for letters, philosophy, fought for the same ideas and above all, attached a value to freedom, to their freedom, including s****l freedom. This extraordinary connivance was akin to real intellectual coitus.

You realize Clara, they shared 50 years of their life! Sartre also wrote: “Sartre cannot be imagined without Beauvoir or Beauvoir without Sartre”.

— If that’s not love!

If I understand correctly, my dear Gauthier, you advocate libertinism?

— Don’t make me say what I didn’t say. On the other hand, do you think a couple can resist s****l abstinence?

— I can imagine it, but what I am sure of is that I will never, ever be able to resist the abstinence of tenderness, of affection, sources of well-being and self-esteem .

Every day in my job, I see the immense damage caused by the emotional abyss into which some children have fallen at a very young age, a devastating abyss. It will take years of altruistic mountaineering for them to return to the surface.

Scene 11

Mathieu, Clara and eternal love

Of course, there can be accidents between couples,

but just because you have a flat tire one day doesn’t mean

you have to throw away the car

Jacques Dutronc

— Mathieu?

— Yes

— Do you believe in eternal Love between two beings?

– Sure, what question !

— Well, I wonder. I wonder if it’s possible to love someone you met at 20 until death? You’re not going to tell me, everyone changes during their life and the person who attracted us in our youth may no longer correspond to our aspirations 30 years later.

— You always have these thoughts, Clara. What I am certain of with you is that you will never breed melancholy! Personally, marriage is a commitment to others, an indestructible bond.

— Even if you were suffering in your relationship?

— Obviously, it is precisely in difficult and painful moments that we realize the real attachment to our double.

— Yes, but if one of the two partners feels more pain than pleasure with the other, don’t you think that the longevity of the couple risks being compromised?

—What are you getting at, Clara? Are you implying suffering in our relationship?

– Somehow. I would love to be able to live at 3000 volts every day as a couple. I love being at the Zenith of love life.

— Okay Clara, but watch out for short circuits.

— Great joys and great sorrows touch my sensitivity head-on. When I am at the bottom of the hole, in distress, sadness and suffering at the 36th level, I receive a real electric shock pushing me to make the decisions that are necessary in relation to my life. A life that no longer suits me, which is stalling.

— My Clara, but it’s very difficult to go through all this.

— It’s true, I recognize it, but it’s the price to pay to meet my true desires and take the path that I have decided to give to my existence. I have always preferred to live in the mode of “Being” rather than “Having”.

— Clara, do you want to leave me?