Douglas Keesey
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Staging masochism, facing shame
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The women who have made it, who are successful in their own eyes, turn to masochism to live out the humiliation, the submission that they no longer have to endure anywhere else. Private masochism may well function to support Solange's public authority in this way. Solange's writing has enabled her to understand that her true desire is to move beyond masochism, but when she has Bruno read her letter he seems to misunderstand its meaning, for he continues his sadistic behaviour toward her. Masturbation is Marie's attempt to get beyond self-censorship and shame to discover an unknown part of herself, the female desires that have been forbidden to her as unacceptable in a 'proper' woman. Catherine Breillat was inspired to film this scene of Marie's struggle to get in touch with her own sexuality by a similar moment in Christine Pascal's Felicite.

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