Let's raise the stakes and, instead of a "mountain chalet,"1 let's bring nature into play in its exponential, wild and exotic version: Africa, Kenya to be precise, at the beginning of the 20th century, in the midst of the classical colonial era – now obsolete – which lends a certain out-of-time air to the situation.
A woman, Baroness Karen Bixen, married for convenience to the owner of a coffee plantation – who pays her no attention – encounters a handsome and adventurous hunter, alone in a wild landscape, next to a river full of hippos.
To respond to Lacan's question: it is neither certain nor natural that this man and this woman will fuck. Instead, he delicately washes her hair, and as he works up a lather, rubbing her scalp with his hands and then rinsing it with a large jug, he recites some verses from a classic of English literature, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel T. Coleridge.
She, with a beatific smile, points out that he is skipping some verses, and he replies that he is only omitting the boring ones, to say the one that matters to him: "He prayeth well, who loveth well. Both man and bird and beast."
Of this unforgettable scene, charged with sensuality, Meryl Streep, who played the baroness, said: "It's a sex scene, in a way, because it's so intimate. [. . .] We've seen so many scenes of people fucking, but we don't see that love, touch, that care. Gorgeous. I didn't want it to end that day."2
The beloved and recently deceased Robert Redford, who portrayed Denys Finch Hatton, the hunter, managed to bring to life a version of desire that links an object cut from the body with a few words of love, tailored to his character. While there is no naturalism of the desirable, Robert's unparalleled grace makes up for it in a way that endures – and will continue to endure.
No one wants that moment to end…
[1] Jacques Lacan, Le Séminaire, Livre XV, L'acte analytique, Paris, Seuil & Champ freudien Ed., 2024, p. 266.
[2] Jack Smart and Carita Rizzo, "Maryl Streep Recalls 'Intimate' Out of Africa Shampoo Scene with Robert Redford: 'Didn't Want It to End,'" People Magazine, 15 May 2024, available online: people.com.
