The Blue Guide Read Online Free

was how different viewers came to such different conclusions about Carol and her motivations. Most agree that she is sexually repressed because of childhood events, but where many people say that she is entirely sexless, Dan believed that, on the contrary, she is consumed by sexual urges that she just doesn’t know how to handle because of her fear of men.
    â€˜Everything points to her being both disgusted and turned on by the same things,’ he explained as he lit a cigarette and took a swig of the cheap red wine we’d ordered. I was surprised but strangely pleased to note that he didn’t feel he had to spend money to impress me, that he wasn’t a snob.
    â€˜Like with the boyfriend’s razor and toothbrush, and the vest that she sniffs,’ he continued. He leaned in towards me, lowered his voice a little. ‘I’m interested – do you think she masturbates in the movie?’
    I cast my mind back, tried to think. ‘Not that it jumped out at me,’ I replied. ‘Why, do you?’
    â€˜Almost certainly,’ he said. ‘Right after when she walks in on her sister’s boyfriend shaving. It’s very subtle, very ambiguous. You just see her face, trembling a little, and then her face pucker a bit as if in distaste, and then the camera pans out and she makes a weird movement with her hand and flicks her fingers as if shaking water away, as if trying to wash away her feelings of being dirty. In fact, I think it’s implied numerous times throughout the film.’
    Huge platefuls of fish and chips arrived and we ate with gusto, continuing to discuss the many layers and ambiguities of the film, and then talking about other Polanski films, from classics such as
Rosemary’s Baby
and
The Tenant
to the execrable if diverting
Bitter Moon
and
The Ninth Gate
. When we’d finished the food and the carafe of wine, Dan blew his cheeks out and rolled his eyes.
    â€˜I think I need a few tours round the block,’ he said. ‘I’m stuffed.’
    I laughed. ‘Me too,’ I said. ‘How about a walk in Hyde Park? It’s just a couple of minutes away.’
    â€˜Sounds great,’ he replied, standing up and pushing his seat back, signalling to the waitress that we needed our bill.
    Outside, we crossed the thundering Cromwell Road and walked up past the Natural History Museum and Science Museum I’d visited with so many American teenagers. At the top of Exhibition Road, we entered the park. I was half inclined to take Dan to the SerpentineGallery: his talk about films enthralled me and I suspected he might be equally fascinating and insightful when it came to art, especially contemporary art. But he seemed to be enjoying being outdoors, so I let it go and we carried on down to the Serpentine lake at the heart of the park. Although it wasn’t yet the summer season, a number of people were out on the water, in paddle boats or rowing boats. Dan looked at me.
    â€˜How about we go for spin?’ he said.
    I smiled. I’m ashamed to say that in all my years in London, in all my time as a tour guide, I had never yet boated on the Serpentine. How could I refuse?
    We crossed to the other side of the lake, to the boathouses, where we paid a small deposit and set out in our craft. Daniel insisted on rowing, peeling off his navy-blue John Smedley sweater to reveal his powerful, lightly tanned arms.
    â€˜Just relax and enjoy yourself,’ he said, and I lay back and let the mild late spring air caress me, watching the clouds thread their way across a luminescent sky. This, I said to myself, was bliss.
    I must have dozed off, for the next thing I knew Daniel was leaning over me, saying something in a soft voice.
    â€˜. . . a bit cold?’ was all I made out. I followed his line of vision down to my breasts and saw that my nipples were erect and protruding through my light woollen top. Knowing he was looking at them made them harden