Metro NY recently ran this fascinating interview with Michel Gondrey about his new film, The Science of Sleep, wherein he talks a bit (OK, it’s really the real subject of the interview) about unrequited love:
AB: You think giving handmade gifts led to rejection?
MG: Me, yes, I was rejected. I showed too much love. If I was in a relationship with my girlfriend, she would cry and show much happiness. But when it’s someone you are not with, it shows how much you would like to be with that person. If she doesn’t want to be with you, it’s difficult.
AB: One of the best presents I ever received was from a boy I didn’t like in that way. It was terrifying.
MG: Yes! They try to love you! And that’s why you don’t like them! It’s crazy! It kills me! Girls who I liked so much and I made presents for, they would date people who have no idea why they were special.
What he’s talking about here is the gap in realities between the lover and the beloved; how the idealized object of love is seen, vs. how she really feels. Of course, this particular garden path quickly heads down the postmodernist rabbit hole, and too many philosophers have stuck their head in there only to never been seen again.
Also vaguely related: Nation Sickened By Sight of Happy Young Couple