L’Imagier des Amours, which, translated, becomes “Book of images of love”, is a collection of portraits and stories, which characterize our subjects. It allows the reader to learn and to become more familiar with the love which exists around him.

 

Texts by Caroline Toussaint

Photographs by Vincent Muller

 

The first time Jeremie talked to Abla, he thought she was called Adia. He confused the –l and the –i, the –b and the –d. He did not know why, perhaps it was because it was the first time that he heard the name. When they started dating, they used the proverb: “pour vivre heureux vivons cachés” (“to live happily, we have to hide”). A catholic French dating a Muslim is not well perceived by all.

 

Abla was raised as a Muslim whilst Jeremie had a catholic education. They have learned to respect each other’s beliefs. They both place a high value on family ties and tradition.

 

In the beginning of their relationship, Abla did not tell her mother that she was dating a non-Muslim. One evening, she thought her mother was visiting her relatives in Algeria. She therefore took the opportunity to invite Jeremie over. But her mother came back earlier than expected from her trip, and when she opened the door, she found a big man standing next to her daughter. Jeremie was impressed, he glanced down at Abla’s mother’s feet: they were painted with henna. Abla’s mother acknowledged Jeremie and said hello, but then she went to the opposite corner of the house to sulk. She blamed Abla for having kept a secret from her.

 

Abla and Jeremie try to follow certain traditions belonging to their respective religions, but they have agreed to avoid being strict about it: they choose which traditions they want to follow. For instance, they never eat pork. But sometimes, they store a few beers in the cupboard. Abla’s mother, who has always been and will always be loyal to Muslim traditions, is against the consumption of alcohol. When she saw the bottles of beer, she glanced at Jeremie. Jeremie knows that Abla’s mother trusts him, she just wants to show that she still has authority.

 

 Jeremie and Abla agree that the names of their religions are not important: what really matters are family values and sharing. When Abla and Jeremie had children, they decided to give them a mixed education. Catholic and Muslim culture should be a part of their children’s lives. Zacharie and Ismael therefore have names that can be found in the Koran as well as in the Bible. They know where they come from, are proud, and have strong family ties.

 

Putting all of this aside, one of Abla and Jeremie’s sons really wants to eat a Mac Bacon.

 

 

Michaël and Amandine will marry each other on the 20th of September 2019. On that date, they will celebrate their 10th year of being together. They will marry on that very day, even if it is not a Saturday. Michael and Amandine are already engaged. If they are waiting so long to celebrate their wedding, it is because it is easier this way, for the moment.

Since their first kiss, they live a long distance relationship. Amandine says that they always seem to pass by each other: they have never managed to study in the same town. Michael and Amandine often have to wait entire months before spending one weekend together.

 

At first, Michael and Amandine decided that everything had to be simple between each other. Today, they agree to say that everything is complicated. Amandine likes sweet songs while Michael prefers when louder tunes that are a bit more hardcore. Michael never wears shirts because he hates buttons, but Amandine says that his Sponge Bob t-shirts are quite childish. Amandine is a wise angel and she also wants to highlight that Michael is a rough guy. But most of all, it is the distance that makes their relationship difficult to manage. They like being opposites because they take advantage of their differences. The real problem is the public transport: it is very tiring.

 

Michael reminds Amandine of their engagement: sooner or later, they will finally live together. They have spent so much time far from each other that they have to make up for lost time… and there is an entire life to do so.

Michael is looking forward to offering Amandine a dream life. Since he lives in Frankfurt, he planned some things: he knows where they could live, where Amandine could apply for a job, he even knows where they could buy their food. Amandine says that Michael overplans. At the moment, what she feels is sadness because he is too far from her. Amandine cannot wait for the distance to be an old memory.

 

Amandine thinks that Michael has always managed to achieve his goals, that he is a lucky man. Michael agrees, but he adds that a person has to position themself so that luck comes to them. Amandine believes that she has bad luck and that they will have to wait for years before they can share an apartment.

 

Mathematically, in a couple, when a person believes in bad luck whilst the other is a lucky star, everything could go bad… or extremely well. Amandine says one never knows. Michael says that when one wants, one can.

 

Benjamin was not very popular when he was a child. He went to school in the countryside, and he certainly did not have the same style as the other young boys. He did not wear the fluorescent t-shirts, nor the sports caps. He did not collect football player cards. Benjamin did not have any friends, except Sophie, the little girl who was always smiling and running in the playground. Sometimes, she would leave him alone to chat with other little brats. But, children change like the weather: sometimes the sun shines, sometimes it rains and Sophie often went from hot to cold in her friendships.

 

Once they became teenagers, Benjamin decided to leave for the city, so he left Sophie alone in the countryside. It was like a breakup. She knew perfectly well that Benjamin desired boys as opposed to girls, and that they would never share a romance. So they stopped talking to each other, because of the distance and of the coldness between them. But teenagers change like the weather: sometimes winter drags on, but spring always comes for those who wait.

 

Benjamin and Sophie did meet again, today they share their old passions: they go to antique markets; they look for butterflies in the glass. Benjamin always offers them to Sophie, because it makes her smile.

 

Because Sophie agreed to spend time with Benjamin and to be “friends only”, they both meet men. They have had a few love stories, but they have never met each other’s boyfriends.

 

Sometimes, Benjamin and Sophie talk about the future. They may live together. Benjamin would give everything to Sophie if he were to disappear before her. She would inherit his pieces of art, his dollhouses, his designer coats and all his other materials.

 

Benjamin knows that Sophie will be his greatest love story.

 

Nadine dreams of a ranch in an open space. nestled deep in the woods on a mountain. She imagines herself as the head of a big family, ruling it majestically, without any man by her side. She would know how to take care of her offspring alone. This is her idyllic vision of old age.

 

When Nadine met The Pirate, she knew he wasn’t the man of her life, even though he wore shiny necklaces. They would never live together, or talk about which wallpaper to have in the kitchen, nor which gift to offer the mother-in-law for her birthday. But The Pirate was sexy, he was adventurous and Nadine liked him ; he was Nadine’s image of a real man. He had muscular legs, 60 years of crazy living and a free spirit.

 

He told her he owned a sailboat in the port of Marseille, where she could certainly have adventures, held tight against his strong chest.

He was as old as her father, he wanted to go to the middle of nowhere with her, and she barely knew him… but her passion for him was driving Nadine to go to the seaside and to board the Pirate’s sailboat.

 

He was there, good-looking, blond, wild, with no clothes other than his necklaces, his bracelets and a Tarzan’s loincloth.

He navigated, staring into the distance, and they both appreciated being alone, free, fiery and naked ; they made love on the lifeboat whenever they wanted. They smelled the sea and felt the spray of the water on their faces as they cut through the waves. They were living the moment and desired nothing more than immediate pleasure.

 

It lasted one week and they haven’t seen each other since. They write emails to give each other their news once every two years. Nadine is not sad, she seizes every day she lives.

 

Nadine asks herself, why does one cry when it is time to say goodbye, at the airport or in train stations, for example? If there is happiness, if there is love, there will always be reunions, so why does one cry ?

 

Nadine likes solitude. She believes that reunions and goodbyes are the same…both make her smile.

Rita’s secret to living a long life is eating apples. She has 13 apple trees in her garden. She knows all the different types of apples, even the ones that look like cherries. Those ones are called small apples.

 

Rita says that she does not have any stories to tell about love. Rita has reflected on the reasons for this, she thinks it is because of her smile. When she was young, she had tiny teeth, tiny teeth like those of a mouse, and it was not pretty. Today, she has fake teeth.

 

Rita has many stories to tell.

 

Rita met a lot of men in the past. She used to sell ties for a living in a big Parisian shop. Then, she decided to quit and buy a little stall in the Vernaison flea market. There, she was photographed with Frederic Mitterand. Alain Delon also walked by her stall, but she did not find him good-looking. Everyone thought Rita was in love with the auctioneer, but Rita did not want him. One day, the auctioneer stood up and she realized that he had short legs: he was as small as when he sat down.

 

When she turned 30, Rita realized that all her friends were married. She did not understand why she was still single, why only the street workers were giving her smiles.

Rita was quite poor, and at times she would only eat a cucumber for lunch (it is not a big deal, she says that it is the secret to beautiful skin). One day, a man told her that she should go to the apple stall. The apple-seller was tall and he wore a hat. He seemed sad, he was called Raoul. Rita learned that his wife had recently died, and that he was depressed. Rita hates sadness, so she asked one of her friends to bring the poor guy some coffee. She asked him around for dinner, she wanted to make him think of something else. He was morose, oh, so morose! But despite this, they got married. She was 58 the day of her wedding in Soissons, and she wore a green dress. Two guests and one dog attended the wedding.

 

Raoul cheated on Rita for 9 years and she did not realize it. But the day she caught him, she left.

 

Rita keeps repeating that everything she says is the truth. She means it, because she does not like liars nor thieves. However, Rita loves laughing and helping people. Rita gives apples to all of her friends, she says it does not matter whether they have worms, you can always make an apple compote with them.

 

Rosario speaks first. He has an Italian accent, which makes the –r difficult to understand. His hands clasped together, he tells us that he spent a few years in prison before he was admitted to the emergency shelter. Rosario used to work as a truck driver; in those days, he spent his nights and weekends on the road. However, one night he came back earlier than usual. He was surprised and horrified to find his wife making love to another man.

 

This very night, Rosario was carrying a firearm on himself. Its sole purpose was to protect the goods held in the truck, but he could not resist shooting the couple that was staining his bed sheets. He made a quick escape; he thought he killed his wife and her lover. He drove to Greece but the police caught up with him and arrested him. Rosario learned that he had killed no one, but that attempted murder is a crime and he would still be punished –in his case- by serving 10 years in prison.

 

One night, in his cell, he dreamt of a white horse, a knight and a woman. He did not recall that strange dream until he met –later on- Simone. Today, Rosario is certain that God made the two of them cross paths.

 

Simone was in very bad shape when she first arrived at the emergency shelter. She was broken and traumatized. The social workers found her on the street. She was sleeping outside because she wanted to escape her violent husband. Simone says that if she would have stayed on living in her husband’s house, she would have died.

When Rosario looked at Simone for the first time, she reminded him of the woman of his dreams. It was love at first sight. As he tells us this, Rosario imitates Cupid, who throws an arrow. He immediately asked Simone if they could be together, but Simone was scared. She was not ready to love a man again. She asked him to wait. Simone thought that Rosario would reject her if she were to tell him her story, or, if he were to learn that she had children.

 

But, soon after their first meeting, she told Rosario her secrets. He listened to her and he provided her with a shoulder to cry on. Little by little, Simone put her trust in Rosario  and she started to fall for his loving eyes. Simone believes that Rosario has kept her alive. Without him, she would not have been strong enough to carry on with life. But together, they have hope.

 

The “two lovers of the emergency shelter”, as some people call them, want to marry each other and move to Italy. They want to start all over again. They think about the glorious days they could spend living in a house by the sea. The Mediterranean climate would be good for Simone; Rosario says it would be good for her health. Maybe they will open a shop; Rosario is already 70 but he is not afraid to work.

 

When they talk about their projects, Rosario gives Simone a hug. They will marry each other very soon and they will leave for Italy and never come back.

The administrative and social workers of the emergency shelter seem to be a bit less optimistic than them. However, they agree that sometimes, it is good for people to dream.

 

Fred and Solveig already had many good memories together, as well as a few surprises along the way, when they decided to have a baby. They met on a beach, made sacrifices to meet again after the summer holidays, went to hundreds of concerts, lived in a cosy apartment, went on long bikerides... they had lived so many adventures, which, one day, they could tell their children…

 

However, all the goodwill in the world isn’t enough to ensure that having a child is always a good and positive experience. Fred and Solveig quickly realized that they would need to rely on medical help to conceive a child.

 

They consequently spent a significant amount of their time in waiting rooms and medical labs ; they discovered the meanings of medical treatments represented by long and complicated words, that infertility problems require deep analysis and a lot of patience for results. They needed to be open-minded and to share intimate information with doctors ; Fred and Solveig had to be strong and to avoid feeling sorry for themselves, to believe in medical solutions, to try. The doctors asked Fred and Solveig to be brave, to have sex everyday instead of making love for pleasure ; doctors asked them to keep in mind that science is an uncertain discipline, and should the medical cocktail work, they could end up with more than one baby.

 

It was a long and emotional rollercoaster. It was almost as though sentences had no comas, no full stops ; it was a period in their lives which, they felt, would never end. Fred and Solveig waited two years and a half before Solveig saw a bump appear on her belly. Fred accompanied her for her first scan. They were brave, they made it, and Solveig was finally pregnant. In fact, science had almost been too good to them: there were two embryos. Fred and Solveig felt scared but one evening, after a lovely diner under the dim lights of a small café, they felt excitement about going to hospital to welcome two daughters into their lives: Billie and June.

 

They like to call their names in this order, Billie and June, it sounds better than June and Billie.

 

When Solveig cycles with Fred, when she struggles to climb a steep slope, Fred stops pedaling and asks Solveig to shout out to relieve her pain. They then continue their ride together ; it may take time to get to the top, but they know they’ll get there.

 

One sunny afternoon, Vivien and his father went to a statue shop: they wanted to buy a sculpture for Vivien’s mother. That day, the young man wasn’t planning on meeting a gorgeous woman, but when he saw the sculptor’s daughter returning from her run, he felt a strong attraction towards her. He saw her amongst all the statues, her hair was messy and she was sweaty. She introduced herself; her name was Isabelle.

 

Vivien was a young man full of pride. He used to think he could date any woman he wanted. He even imagined himself dating several at the same time. Well, Vivien was influenced by a friend who adored women, and who went from one relationship to another. However, when Vivien met the sculptor’s daughter, he thought she was too pretty to let go. He invited her to a car-tuning session. There, he kissed her.

 

People said that the relationship would never last: Vivien liked partying, seeing people and having fun. He was not ready to be committed to someone. However, when Isabelle asked him to choose between her and all the other girls in the world, Vivien admitted that he loved Isabelle. He could never let her go.

 

Two years later, Vivien said to Isabelle that he did not want to be her boyfriend anymore. She looked at him without understanding. She was sad, oh she had so many insults to tell him but she wanted him to explain himself first.

 

He did not want her to be his girlfriend anymore, and he reached for a special little box. He wanted her to marry him, and he offered her a ring. Isabelle insulted him whilst laughing: this meant she was happy and wanted to be his wife.

 

The gemstone on Isabelle’s ring is poorly cut and it often falls out. Isabelle, who is afraid to lose it, would like to make a necklace out of it, so she could wear it at all times. The gemstone on Isabelle’s ring is as blue as Vivien’s eyes, that is to say a very light blue, almost transparent.