Great analysis of the film, thank you. I agree with you that there wasn’t a consummated threesome at the end—the female character wanted to commit suicide out of shame of her knowledge that at least one of her parents saw them all together—shame of the appearance of a threesome.
I think the point is that the two French characters are very immature—their sexuality isn’t mature, committed sexuality but childish games. The entrance of the American represents the demand that his French friends grow up—all the incest or near incest, etc., is all from a lingering childhood experimentation and it’s time for both of them to get real partners and leave that stuff behind. The fact that they’re still financially dependent upon their parents adds to this impression, and the fact that they try to maintain an innocent facade for their parents also adds to the impression of their immaturity.
But this is a point at which I disagree with you—I think this is all about the 1968 Revolution, and that Bert. is using these incestous characters to comment upon the revolution: that it is an incestous, immature movement, that it is children rebelling against parents upon whom they are still dependent, that it is unproductive and childish, that the participants need to grow up, and that what’s happening in America is, for Bert., what makes what’s happening in France in 1968 seem so immature. May not agree with Bert’s view of the 1968 riots in France, but I think that’s what it was and why he made the film with these characters...who in the end participated when the American walked away.
Great analysis of the film, thank you. I agree with you that there wasn’t a consummated threesome at the end—the female character wanted to commit suicide out of shame of her knowledge that at least one of her parents saw them all together—shame of the appearance of a threesome.
I think the point is that the two French characters are very immature—their sexuality isn’t mature, committed sexuality but childish games. The entrance of the American represents the demand that his French friends grow up—all the incest or near incest, etc., is all from a lingering childhood experimentation and it’s time for both of them to get real partners and leave that stuff behind. The fact that they’re still financially dependent upon their parents adds to this impression, and the fact that they try to maintain an innocent facade for their parents also adds to the impression of their immaturity.
But this is a point at which I disagree with you—I think this is all about the 1968 Revolution, and that Bert. is using these incestous characters to comment upon the revolution: that it is an incestous, immature movement, that it is children rebelling against parents upon whom they are still dependent, that it is unproductive and childish, that the participants need to grow up, and that what’s happening in America is, for Bert., what makes what’s happening in France in 1968 seem so immature. May not agree with Bert’s view of the 1968 riots in France, but I think that’s what it was and why he made the film with these characters...who in the end participated when the American walked away.