Quests, Failure, Desire

Sparked by Eric Rohmer's 1986 film The Green Ray — about a woman ostensibly looking for somewhere to go on vacation but really looking for someone to be with — Sarris attacks the modern adage that "you need to be happy alone before you can be happy with someone else." Dissatisfaction, melancholy, and unmet yearning are not signs you are damaged; they are the normal tide of a human life. We are improved by relationships; we should yearn for them; we should mourn their absence. A defence of desire against defensive postures.