at first.

- "I was learning what I knew, but refused to hear:
That the body of women calls for mutilation. And yet no part of it is excessive. Men rant against something that’s invisible.
It’s late, and you still know nothing about women. Come, take a closer look. That’s what I pay you for.


- Know why people drink when they’re together? Because they have nothing to say. They hope a bedroom will make things better: It’s worse. We drink because there’s no communication. Nothing…

- Last night you wanted to kill me. You fought that urge a
long time.

- How do you know?

- It’s an urge all man have, that’s how they are. That’s why they lie beside us. The veils they adorn us with ritually, anticipate our shrouds. But you’re not part of that. You know nothing of it. You don’t know the harm you could do.

It’s why they’ve tried to lock women up, in all eras, all places, under every latitude.

To protect us from ourselves, they say. To break the spell of women. In fact… they’re afraid women don’t belong to them. They don’t believe in basic freedom. They threaten us with belts, padlocks, their concept of chastity, their foolish morals, since they always need reassurances. Yet they know one can’t ask for proof. Or else love has no meaning.

Because of this blood, they say we’re impure. Sometimes they won’t shake our hands. In fact, they’re scared of this blood that flows without the need of wound. What they call impurity, I… on the contrary… We make such a big deal of it. See the space this tampon takes up, and one can’t even feel it? The same space as most human penises. Proof that in intercourse the act isn’t what matters, but it’s meaning. I can push it in just like that, to the tip without feeling anything, no sensation of pleasure at all. A very ordinary gesture. I don’t feel a thing. Nothing!"

Anatomie de l'enfer (AKA Anatomy of Hell) (2004)
Catherine Breillat