Here in France, we make love
The Dreamers by Bernardo Bertolucci
From the days of the Algerian and Vietnam wars, when students all over the world demonstrated in the streets, human rights and civil liberties were at the forefront of the western world’s political mindset and the notions of liberty and equality served as a synonym for sexual exploration, Paris has continued to present itself as one of the world’s most promiscuous cities.
Indeed, sexual liberty is no new phenomenon in the French capital, where outdoor brothels, homosexual pick-up points and outdoor kissing have been the measure of events since medieval times.
Nonetheless, when French people talk about sex, they always refer to l’amour whether used as a verb or a noun. Quite simply, the French intertwine emotions of lust, desire and longing into a mere word – love, or l’amour.
To faire l’amour, or make love is a concept that the French seem to take literally. The French see the act of love-making as something creative and artistic, not necessarily meant to be hidden behind closed doors. It is considered as a natural and aesthetically pleasing act in which our human homogeneity is wholeheartedly portrayed.
Hence, Bernardo Bertolucci’s film The Dreamers incarnates Paris during the student riots in 1968 as a feast of youthful pleasures and seediness, perhaps urging the viewer to perceive these daring moments of sexuality as creative and pleasing to the eye. Students are seen to share baths; share beds and most controversially share partners to the point of incest.
Whether this is morally right or wrong is beside the point. The point is that these cinematic encounters took place in Paris. Why Paris? Is it perhaps the only urban center where such practices are considered as the social norm?
Today’s edition of Le Monde has an article whose subject openly deals with the libido of those older than 50. Candidly talking about the physical and psychological dilemmas inherent to the process of ageing, Sandrine Blanchard, a writer for the Le Monde newspaper, dares talk about “a drop in performance when unable to make the other climax.”
Sex is anything but taboo in France. Political figures are well known for their mistresses and rampant sexual behaviour. They have all been guilty, caught with their trousers down in the full glare of many an undisturbed onlooker. From Charles De Gaulle to France’s present day leader Nicolas Sarkozy who was known earlier in his career for having relations with the daughter of Jacques Chirac, sex is not a part of their lives which could one day come back to tarnish their political stature.
In the same way tweed jackets are still accepted in Britain, love making is depoliticized and respectfully promoted in France.
