Remember the botched brothel-visit in L’Education sentimentale and remember its lesson. Do not participate: happiness lies in the imagination, not the act. Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory.

Julian Barnes
About This Quote

This is a line from French director Jean Renoir’s film L’Education sentimentale (1931), which is often referred to as “the first film noir.” One night, the protagonist (Jean Gabin) visits a brothel. He has to wait for his prostitute (Gisèle Béart) to finish her shift. They make small talk, but she clearly has no interest in him. When he finally gets his turn, she is completely uninterested in him, despite all of his efforts to entice her.

She does not even let him touch her. The lesson of the botched brothel visit lies in this line: It doesn’t matter how many times you visit that brothel or that dance hall. You will still be unsuccessful. The only thing that matters is that you do not participate in those places.

The imagination can create pleasure and can go on forever, but it cannot be created by the act itself. If you participate in those places, you will never feel any satisfaction or pleasure from your imagination. Instead, you will be left with only bitter memories of your failure to act on your imagination and want nothing more than to get away from those places forever.

Source: Flauberts Parrot

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