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READINGS

Plural Happiness: Bi and Poly Triangulations in Balasko's French Twist

Pages 343-361 | Published online: 25 Nov 2009
 

Abstract

This article proposes bi and poly reading of the film French Twist (1995) based on salient points of queer theory, including mimetic desire, homosexual panic, the apparitional lesbian, the triangularity of desire and the figure of two-in-one. These theories are adapted and expanded to explain the bisexual and polyamorous practices of love observed in the film, including compersion or the ability to love those who love our lovers. The three main characters, a butch lesbian from Paris, a bisexual woman from Spain and her philandering husband from Provence, intertwine their lives as they learn to be in touch with themselves, fair to each other and inclusive. The article explains how these practices are conducive of the “plural happiness” observed at the film's concluson, where the three protagonists form a bi and poly triad with the bi woman in the middle and an expanded family that includes three parents and their three children. The author argues that the bi and poly practices of love observed in the film are good for the planet because they are conducive of ecological and emotional sustainability.

Notes

1. A condensed version of my discussion of this film as a bi and poly text can be found in CitationAnderlini-D'Onofrio (2009).

2. The idea that the love of wisdom is the wisdom of love is from The Way of Love, one of Luce Irigaray's (2002) recent books. There she claims that in the Gnostic tradition, the word philosophy meant the love of wisdom and the wisdom of love.

3. The concepts of lose/win and win/win games come from game theory. Lose/win games are also known as zero-sum games because as soon as a player wins, the other player seeks to get even. Win/win games are more symbiotic and inclusive, they expand the core of the game so that all players can win. In mathematics, these two types of games were theorized by John Van Naumann and John Nash, respectively (CitationNasar, 1998). In the humanities, the concept of ludic structures precedes game theory and was elaborated by John CitationHuizinga (1977).

4. Compersion is a core concept in polyamory, the style of love based on the idea that one can sincerely and honestly love more than one person at a time. Compersion is sometimes defined as “the opposite of jealousy.” It is the practice of love that allows respect, love and admiration among a constellation of variously interlaced poly partners (CitationAnapol, 1997).

5. For a complete analysis of how sharing partners and emotional resources relates to global ecology and sustainability, see CitationAnderlini-D'Onofrio (2009).

6. The two French theorists champion a political (as well as a medical) definition of schizophrenia, as a mode of operation that affects everyone in advanced capitalism because it is induced by excessive consumerism, even as in acute cases it can and should be diagnosed as a mental illness (CitationDeleuze & Guattari, 1983, Citation1987).

7. Conventional lesbian theory has defined butch and femme identities as cultural constructions that operate within lesbian cultures and are, therefore, independent of heteronormative gender systems that only focus on the nexus between men and women. However, this presumes a sense of identity that is fixed, immutable. In a Deleuzian discursive context where identities are but in-flux playful tools, it makes sense to compare a macho man to a butch woman and vice versa.

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