Overstimulated: an analysis of 'Carnal Knowledge'

This is an analysis of Mike Nichols' film 'Carnal Knowledge' 

Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge is about best friends Johnathan and Sandy and their philosophies on sex, women, and happiness. Johnathan (Jack Nicholson) is a bachelor whose idea of happiness is relating to women physically. Sandy (Art Garfunkel) is also looking for the perfect sex partner and the perfect marriage.  Both men end up desensitized and enslaved to the urges of the flesh, Johnathan turning to scripted encounters with prostitutes and Sandy marrying a woman half his age. Sandy and Johnathan are 2 sides of the same coin: Sandy is the type of man women say they want—he’s a gentleman, accommodating, patient, follows the rules, etc. Johnathan is the type of man women really want— he knows what he wants, he’s direct. But most importantly, he’s a bad boy.

We wear masks

When I go to work, I am a professional; when I visit my mother, I am her son; when I’m with the guys, I’m macho; when I’m here, I swear but when I attend church, I don’t; when I’m over there, I’m that way and when I am over here, I’m this way—who am I? Throughout the course of a day, we hide our real identities behind masks that we change whenever it’s convenient. The masks we wear reflect our ideal selves and what we would like others to think of us. Who we are when there are no laws or morals restricting us, are who we really are. In this exchange, Susan is speaking of herself in the 3rd person but Sandy doesn’t pick up on it:

Susan: This is the 1st time I’ve ever been to a college mixer.
Sandy: Me, too, I hate them.
Susan: I hate them, too.
Sandy: Such a phony way of meeting people.
Susan: Everybody puts on an act.
Sandy: So even if you meet somebody, you don’t know who you meet.
Susan: —‘Cause you’re meeting the act.
Sandy: That’s right, not the person.
Susan: I’m not sure I agree.
Sandy: With what?
Susan: With what you said.
Sandy: No, I don’t either.
Susan: You don’t agree with what you said?
Sandy: How do you feel about it?
Susan: I think people only like to think they’re putting on an act but it’s not an act, it’s really them. If they think it’s an act they feel better because they think they could always change it.
Sandy: You mean they’re kidding themselves because it’s not really an act.
Susan: Yes, it is an act but the act is them
Sandy: But if it’s them, how can it be an act?
Susan: ‘Cause, they’re an act.
Sandy: But they’re also real.
Susan: No.
Sandy: You mean I’m not real?
Susan: No.
Sandy: I’m an act.
Susan: It’s all right. I’m an act, too. Don’t you behave differently with different people?

Sandy doesn’t realize that Susan is talking about herself because he hasn’t been with many women. She isn’t the strait-laced coed she appears to be. While she is talking to Sandy, she peeks over his shoulder at Johnathan who is the film’s bad boy.

Women are from Venus

Johnathan has had sex with so many women that he develops a sixth sense enabling him to understand their alien alphabet, that when they say something they really mean something else. Sandy hasn’t had a lot of sex and hasn’t acquired the power to understand the opposite sex.

For example, Susan—speaking in code—tells Sandy that she isn’t the girl he thinks she is but he doesn’t catch on to her meaning. He thinks that she is the girl next door but she is trying to tell him that she isn’t which becomes evident when she dates Johnathan:

Susan: “You’re the only boy I know that I can talk to.”
Sandy: “I can’t see you being quiet for any guy.”
Susan: “Not quiet, but if you know somebody’s not going to approve of what you are—”
Sandy: “Whatever that is.”
Susan: “Whatever that is. Well, you just don’t tell him. I mean, if I like a boy and I want him to keep liking me and I’m brighter than he is I have to not show it or I’ll lose him, so it’s hard.”

Control

Sandy and Johnathan are 2 sides of the same coin: Sandy is the type of man women say they want—he’s a gentleman, accommodating, patient, follows the rules, etc. Johnathan is the type of man women really want— he knows what he wants, he’s direct. Most importantly, he’s a bad boy.

On title 4 on the DVD, Sandy and Susan are on their 2nd date.  Sandy wants to kiss Susan and asks her permission. She smiles modestly and insults him in a nice way: “You’re the only boy I know that I can talk to.” She tells Sandy how to kiss her and he obeys gratefully. He brags to Johnathan. On the next date, Sandy tries to put his hand on her breast. Susan resists and gives him a hand-job. Sandy reports back to Johnathan who sets up a date with Susan. They speak code to each other, saying things that really mean something else.  A week later they meet to have sex because she has no control over the urges he brings out of her.

On their 3rd date, Susan says to Sandy that he’s the only “boy” she can talk to because he doesn’t arouse her and, as a result, she is able to discipline her sexual urges and exercise control of her mind. 

Slavery

A man or woman who is forced to do something against his or her will is a slave. Matt. 16:23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” In this case, the slave master is the urge for sex and the slave is man’s higher mind: his intellect, morals, and principles. When Johnathan takes Susan out on their 1st date, she asks him “Do you always date your best friend’s girlfriends?” as though she is dating him against her will. Her lower urge for sex has  enslaved her superior intelligence and principles. 

Loss of principles

Johnathan’s better judgement is clouded by his sexual urges. At 43:50 on the DVD, he is having dinner in an upscale restaurant with a model named Bobbie, his ideal woman because of her large breasts. She reads his palm:

Bobbie: You have a long lifeline. You’re difficult to get along with. You always know your own mind. You won’t stop going after what you want until you get it. 

In the cab, he asks her if she can cook and she says no. She asks him if he’ll marry her and he says, joking, that he’d marry her in a minute. He asks her if she’ll take him for every cent he has if he divorces her; again, she answers yes. She even tell him that she’s a gold-digger. The fur coat could have come from a former husband she took to the cleaners. Johnathan’s lust for her clouds his better judgement and he pays the price for it later.

Like Adam who becomes wise after eating the forbidden fruit, having sex with many women opens Johnathan’s eyes up to the flesh side of women that results in him receiving a sentence of death (like Adam) in the form of ED (erectile dysfunction).