Luc’s function as a literary touchstone is clearest in Aimee’s life. Aimee is comfortable in her life. She loves her husband, rejecting the advances of the Englishman. She invites Protee into her private space, her bedroom and her shower, but only for specific, serving functions: protection, providing water, helping her with her dress. Each time she asks for help in those personal ways, though, she draws closer – but it is Luc that exposes her true feelings. He says “you would like to be here, brushing up against Protee, wouldn’t you?” In response, Protee asks, reestablishing the boundaries, if there is anything he can do for Aimee. But that question obviously haunts her, because she – very deliberately – “brushes up against” Protee in (I believe) the next scene. Luc’s question gave a name to what she wanted, and she revealed the correctness of his guess.
In Marc’s and Protee’s lives, Luc’s function is harder to see, because it reveals something less dramatic – a simple ‘fitting’ into the world-as-it-is. Protee has learned how to, if not thrive, at least survive well, in his world. Yes, he is sometimes disgusted or pained by the system he is part of (as when he is in the shower), but Luc reveals how little it truly bothers him. What truly bothers Protee is disorder and change. He is willing to serve if service brings peace. Marc is the same way. He is a bit of an idealist, enjoys ‘fraternizing with the natives’, if you will, learning about their culture, taking them seriously, but he does not believe they are the same. Even when he values their service – as with Protee or the doctor – he feels quite free to interrupt them, and they must come at a moment’s notice. His kindness to the natives is not the kindness of a friend or an equal, but of a better condescending to appreciate a lower. Again, Luc reveals this – primarily by “being African,” eliciting Marc’s repeated comments that he does not belong there.
However, the most interesting part of these themes is the movie’s overall message about them. Startlingly, it does not seem to denigrate the boundaries – in fact, seems to support the status quo. France goes back home with her white people. The man who drives her accepts the fact that he is more American than African. The ‘truly black’ still serve (though now at the airport). But truly, what Luc shows is that nothing is that easy. There is, as Marc says, no lines, really – Aimee goes home, bringing the organ. The driver is still in Africa, after all. Even the airport workers wear raincoats in the rain. The movie’s message through the literary touchstone of Luc’s character is that ‘normal’ exists without boundaries.
