Since the twelfth year of his life an unusual obsession has taken hold of Antoine: the desire to marry a hairdresser. This idea was produced by a strange interconnection of circumstances: The woollen cloth of the swimming trunks knitted by his mother won't dry and chafes at the genitals; thereby sexual desire is produced which focusses on Madame Sheaffer, a voluptuously built Alsatian hairdresser that attracts him even more when Antoine succeeds in throwing a glance at one of her only meagrely covered breasts, during one of his innumerable haircutting sessions.
But sexual reverie comes to an abrupt end, at least for the time being, when Antoine discovers Mme Sheaffer dead on the floor of her hairdressing salon.
In the long run, the inexplicable suicide can't suppress his most ardent ambition. On the contrary: his visits at the hairdresser's become a passion, and about forty years after the terrible incident Antoine finally encounters the hairdresser of his dreams.
Straight away he asks for Mathilde's hand, without having talked much to her, without having noticed a trace of willingness on her part to see more in him than a mere customer. Therefore she meets his audacity with chilly silence, so that Antoine has to present his apologies and leaves the salon confusedly. Will his life ambition be doomed to failure?
A couple of weeks later Antoine returns though, a little timidly, and it seems unlikely that he might dare to repeat his proposal. But, quite surprisingly, it's Mathilde who refers again to the unusual request and accepts it, as if all she needed was a little bit of time to think about it. An almost silent relationship develops, in which the two partners cling to themselves in an uncompromising manner, offering hardly any space for the outside world. They experience their happiest moments of love when, after the completion of daily work, they lock themselves in the salon and spend their nights in states of euphoria.
Such idyll would be perfect, if there weren't any disturbing shadows falling on the radiant image. At the beginning they are nothing more than some apparently casual remarks made by Mathilde referring to certain customers, for instance when she discovers on their departure that they walk more stoopedly than they used to. It is progressing time that haunts Mathilde, the fear to lose passion all of a sudden. Such an idea seems to be unbearable for her, and finally leads her to a fatal inspiration...
Again Antoine finds himself alone, disheartenedly, like after that first death. He has to admit that, although life ambitions are generally fulfillable, it is impossible to hold on to them. There is nothing else for him to do now but to be the guardian of a deserted hairdresser's salon, in which, although he may be able to wash the hair of the next customer, he then can only tell him to wait: The hairdresser will surely return.
But sexual reverie comes to an abrupt end, at least for the time being, when Antoine discovers Mme Sheaffer dead on the floor of her hairdressing salon.
In the long run, the inexplicable suicide can't suppress his most ardent ambition. On the contrary: his visits at the hairdresser's become a passion, and about forty years after the terrible incident Antoine finally encounters the hairdresser of his dreams.
Straight away he asks for Mathilde's hand, without having talked much to her, without having noticed a trace of willingness on her part to see more in him than a mere customer. Therefore she meets his audacity with chilly silence, so that Antoine has to present his apologies and leaves the salon confusedly. Will his life ambition be doomed to failure?
A couple of weeks later Antoine returns though, a little timidly, and it seems unlikely that he might dare to repeat his proposal. But, quite surprisingly, it's Mathilde who refers again to the unusual request and accepts it, as if all she needed was a little bit of time to think about it. An almost silent relationship develops, in which the two partners cling to themselves in an uncompromising manner, offering hardly any space for the outside world. They experience their happiest moments of love when, after the completion of daily work, they lock themselves in the salon and spend their nights in states of euphoria.
Such idyll would be perfect, if there weren't any disturbing shadows falling on the radiant image. At the beginning they are nothing more than some apparently casual remarks made by Mathilde referring to certain customers, for instance when she discovers on their departure that they walk more stoopedly than they used to. It is progressing time that haunts Mathilde, the fear to lose passion all of a sudden. Such an idea seems to be unbearable for her, and finally leads her to a fatal inspiration...
Again Antoine finds himself alone, disheartenedly, like after that first death. He has to admit that, although life ambitions are generally fulfillable, it is impossible to hold on to them. There is nothing else for him to do now but to be the guardian of a deserted hairdresser's salon, in which, although he may be able to wash the hair of the next customer, he then can only tell him to wait: The hairdresser will surely return.