After Kevin (whose family attended Mass at the same church in Wilmington as Joe Biden’s) took me to this Jules Feiffer-penned movie playing at a local Manhattan arthouse he had me re-enact it. We kind of looked like this. Oh, I got him there.

(sensual sitar music playing)

carnal-knowledge-jack-nicholson-rita-moreno-1971

Louise: I don’t think we’re going to have any trouble tonight.
Jonathan: You don’t?
Louise: No, I don’t.
Jonathan: Are you sure?
Louise: You wanna bet?
Jonathan: How much?
Louise: A hundred?
(he takes bill from pocket, gives to her; she puts it away)
Jonathan: You sound pretty sure.
Louise: You’re a kind of man…why shouldn’t I be sure?
Jonathan: What kind of man am I?
Louise: (slowly, seductively, kneeling between his legs) A real man. A kind man. I don’t mean weak kind the way so many men are. I mean the kindness that comes from an enormous strength… From an inner power so strong that every act, no matter what, is more proof of that power… That’s what all women resent. That’s why they try to cut you down. Because your knowledge of yourself and them is so right, so true, that it exposes the lie which they, every scheming one of them, live by. It takes a true woman to understand that the purest form of love is to love a man who denies himself to her. A man who inspires worship. Because he has no need for any woman. Because he has himself. And who is better, more beautiful, more powerful, more perfect… You’re getting hard. More strong, more masculine, more extraordinary, more robust… (smiling) It’s rising. More viral, dominating…more irresistible… (happy laugh) It’s up. In the air.


FULL DRESS // A gifted mesmerist—a sinister composer—a naive young conductor from the north…inspired by an episode from the life of Rachmaninoff // DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK POSTER

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