The Perineum Technique

by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert (Artist)

JH and Sarah meet online regularly for virtual hookups. Obsessed with the brevity and solitariness of their connections, JH tries to convince Sarah to meet him in person. A strange seduction ensues when Sarah challenges JH to abstinence. The Perineum Technique is a meditation on intimacy in the era of hyperconnectivity -- the couple’s online encounters often begin with naked plunges off giant obelisks. Originally serialized in the French newspaper Le Monde, The Perineum Technique is one of the country’s most internationally acclaimed graphic novels of recent years, by two of its most exciting creators.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Bande Dessinée, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Sequential Art, Erotica

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

An elegant and beautiful and sort of ethereal graphic novel that also serves as a kind of exploration of contemporary online sexual relationships. JH, a maker of experimental art videos, and Sarah, meet online regularly for virtual hookups, but JH wants more; he wants to meet in person. She is cagey, challenges him to four months of abstinence using what she calls "the perineum technique" which becomes a kind of strategy for her to control him (or for her to have him control himself), which I guess may hold some erotic ambience for her and some readers, though not JH. And then there is JH's assistant, a woman, who is secretly into JH, hears all of the details of the online dating relationship as reported from him, so there's that tension/erotic denial, too.

Some of it is sort of vaguely erotic (they do actually meet at a kind of "swinger's" party) but it is also clear that this sexual experience is ultimately unsatisfactory, as we might expect. All the people are beautiful, the art is drawn and colored beautifully, connoting desire and romance, but the sexual politics involved function as kind of a critique. The most interesting aspect of the book is what I would call a poetic or metaphorical dimension of how their relationship gets illustrated, some of it in fantasy (though never grossly pornographic, in the illustration), some in dreams, some in the emotional rendering of the online conversations as imagined/rendered visual experience.

I think some readers will just hate it, because almost everyone seems so (perhaps predictably) distant from each other, unlikeable, a function of alienated technology, but I think it is intriguing and especially visually interesting, even beautiful. It's all the unsaid that will provoke the most interesting analysis among readers, I suspect.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretentious, artsy nonsense about two selfish assholes who absolutely deserve each other.

[Steffi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich bin ja bekanntermaßen nicht sonderlich comic-affin, aber ich versuche es immer wieder. Und diese Graphic Novel hat Denis Scheck mehrmals in den höchsten Tönen gelobt.

Aber nein, das funktioniert für mich nicht. Soll das etwa erotisch sein? Mich lässt diese Begegnung zweier Menschen, die sich beim Internetsex kennenlernen, völlig kalt. Dann finden sich auch noch Dialoge wie

„Sorry wegen der Szene neulich Abend, ich bin einfach verliebt in dich“
„Ich weiß. Weißt du was, ich bin auch verliebt in dich“
„Das ist ja mega!“

Echt jetzt, erwachsene Menschen, die in der Situation sagen „Das ist ja mega!“?

[Titus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve loved everything I’ve read from Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot, but this might just be my favourite yet.

Compared to their other work that I’ve read, this is considerably more conventional and plot-driven – more focused and, ultimately, more accomplished and satisfying – though judging by the reviews on Goodreads, it’s still too “artsy”, “pretentious” and “European” for some. The story is about the love life of a narcissistic artist and, as Matt Seneca points out in an excellent review in The Comics Journal, this could reasonably be categorized as a romance, or indeed a romantic comedy. Nonetheless, it has little in common with the lowest-common-denominator Hollywood movies and mass-market paperbacks associated with those labels. Rather, it’s a work that aims for the head more than the heart, mixing naturalistic contemporary slice-of-life with a significant dose of absurdism and delivering astute social satire.

Some might say that this comic is about sex more than it’s about romance, but I’d argue that it’s mostly about the relationship between the two. It explores the struggle to distinguish sexual desires from romantic feelings, as well as the results of sexual and romantic frustration and self-denial. It also looks at the tension inherent to a world where a high level of sexual emancipation (some might even say libertinism) exists alongside technology-induced inter-personal alienation, where people ignore those standing in front of them as they use their phones to search desperately for their next date.

Ruppert and Mulot are unabashed formalists and, although this comic might not be as experimental as their others that I’ve read, it does a lot of interesting stuff visually. Most notably, it employs really creative visual metaphors – some self-explanatory and some more obscure. For a comic about sex, there’s remarkably little direct depiction of sexual acts; instead it shows stimulation and climax through imagery ranging from water droplets to samurai swords to rollercoasters to dismembered fingers. It’s pretty leftfield, but it works fantastically. The art’s great on an aesthetic level too: Ruppert and Mulot go all-out with gorgeously detailed backgrounds, and their usual sketchy line work is wonderfully complemented by Isabelle Merlet’s matte, subtly textured and very organic-feeling colours.

This certainly isn’t for everyone: many readers will be put off by the flawed, inscrutable characters, the open-ended plot and the unconventional narrative techniques. Fortunately, these are all things I love, and this comic has confirmed to me that Ruppert and Mulot are two of the most exciting comic creators active today.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein junger Mann lernt eine Frau kennen, allerdings virtuell, mittels einer Dating=App. Die beiden haben reichlich virtuellen Sex und er möchte sie kennen lernen. Es kommt zu einem Treffen, aber damit beginnt keine klassische Love=Story, ganz im Gegenteil. Es geht von nun an ziemlich ausschließlich um Orgasmen und darum, wie Mann beliebig oft kommen kann, ohne dabei einen Samenerguss zu haben.
Okay, das ist das eine, was ich gelernt habe; Bei dieser Methode soll es sich um die titelgebende Perineum=Technik handeln.
Das andere: Ich bin altmodisch und, ach je, wohl doch auch verklemmt und prüde.
Wie der männliche Protagonist da ungeniert mit seinen Bekannten die Frage erörtert, ob und mit wem er Sex hat und wann er zuletzt ejakuiert hat, das kommt mir doch sehr befremdlich vor. Dass er auf einer Swingerparty sozusagen "öffentlich abspritzt", nicht nur vor den Augen anderer sondern auch so ziemlich ins Auge, das finde ich eher peinlich als erregend.
Überhaupt: Erotisch, erregend ist diese GN für mich nicht. Wo Intimstes so ans Licht gezerrt und durchgehechelt wird, ist für Fantasie kein Raum. So gesehen ja fast beruhigend, dass auch die Protagonisten der Geschichte nur je kurzfristige Befriedigung finden, bevor der Kampf um den nächsten Orgasmus weiter geht.
Dabei stehen die Dialoge, steht die ganze Thematik in einem Gegensatz zur Artwork, die durchaus diskreter ist und interessante bildhafte Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten für das sexuelle Erleben findet. Auch die Darstellung der Nacktheit wirkt in keiner Weise obszön, sondern im Gegenteil natürlich;
Und es mag eben sein, dass andere Leser auch die Gespräche über die Orgasmen natürlich finden.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little erotic near the start, the book gets lost in visual metaphors and dream sequences as the protagonist turns his sexual experiences and feelings for his online paramour/muse into performance art. The more I got to know the main couple, the less I liked them. Too European for a parochial Midwesterner like me, I suppose.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

They recommended this to me, but I won't do you like that.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I did learn that there’s more to the perineum then I had previously understood.....also there is a theme that tends to pop up often in French storytelling that emotional intimacy is eternally elusive and the best one can do is be ridiculously detached and extremely sadistic in ones “romantic” relationships

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seksi bir grafik roman olduğu söylenebilir.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this delightful graphic novel in one sitting on a flight back from Copenhagen. Gorgeously straightforward, but with a quirky argument that left me with a altered perspective once I was done reading. The visual style, uncluttered, compelled suited and reflected the quirky ideas of it very well.

I loved that it's unconventionality knocked my thinking over a little - not in a way I can delineate, but in a way I enjoyed. And honestly the simplicity of it, I loved. A great deeper entry point into graphic novels for me! I'm intrigued

[Adam McPhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice art, love that clear line style but wasn't much for the story. The use of visual metaphor in lieu of graphic sexual imagery was a nice touch but reminded me of the diatribe in KSR's Aurora where the computer Ship makes her case that analogy is a more useful tool than metaphor. I don't know.

[Murat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Çizgiler ve renkler güzel. Evet, çizgiler ve renkler güzel.

[Magnus Frederiksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Vilken historia. Ä L S K A R den. Det handlar mer om känslorna kring att träffa nån man blivit förälskad i och hur jävla tokigt en kan bete sig. Än att det är en erotisk historia. Sexet är närvarande hela tiden men inte i syfte att skapa kåthet utan för att berätta en historia. Ett udda möte mellan två udda personer som faller för varandra även känslomässigt får sammanfatta historien.

[Oneirosophos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have read the Europe Comics edition and this is just belongs to "wtf I've just read".

A video artist finds his muse through a "tinder-like" app, but this cute blonde is very peculiar. She asks him to master the Perineum Technic in order not to ejaculate too early. And she gives him 4 months to do it, thus the artist gets neurotic and sick.

Avoid at all costs, although the art is quite interesting. But the script remains too stupid and "wannabe intriguing".

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty strange short story about a guy in an online relationship. She challenges him to not cum for a few months by using the perineum technique (essentially just forcing yourself to not ejaculate after getting close).

I really liked the abstract pages that depict the feelings that happen during a sexual relationship.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Żałuję, że póki co nikt u nas nie pokusił się o wydanie komiksów Rupperta i Mulota. Wcześniej czytałem „Portrait of a Drunk” zobrazowany przez Oliviera Schrauwena i był znakomity. Coś co mogłoby pogodzić fanów historii marynistycznych i miłośników nieco bardziej niezależnych produkcji. Wierzę, że ten komiks przyjąłby się u nas bez problemu. Z „Perineum Technique” jest trochę inaczej. Czytam o nim bardzo różne opinie, ale zdecydowanie ustawiam się po stronie entuzjastów.

On jest uznanym artystą, ona nie chce ujawniać swej profesji. Łączą się zdalnie poprzez aplikację, by uprawiać wirtualny sex. Już w tym momencie jest ciekawie, bo autorzy mają dosyć oryginalną wizję, jak taka apka mogłaby wyglądać i umieszczają parę w dosyć nietypowych przestrzeniach. Siłą rzeczy musi się to skończyć w realu, ale i tu wydarzenia nie toczą się gładko, bo on nalega na spotkanie, a ona stawia mu dosyć nietypowy warunek związany z seksualnością

”The Perineum Technique” to trochę romans, a trochę jego zaprzeczenie. Mówi sporo o świecie, w którym do prawdziwego uczucia trzeba się przebić z poziomu nowych technologii, ale robi to w sposób zabawny i pomysłowy. Metafory związane z aktem seksualnym i wplątanie w całość awangardowej sztuki tworzonej przez bohatera przenoszą czytelnika na trochę wyższy poziom odbioru, ale w żadnym momencie nie miałem poczucia przekroczenia granicy smaku czy artystowskiej przesady. Mam za to wielką ochotę, by zostać przy bibliografii obu artystów trochę dłużej

[Ags · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this after reading a few other short, artsy graphic novels in a row, so my brain was a little mush for this. This has a lovely color palette (muted jewel) and easy dialog (could have been a script), so this was a pleasant read.

2 stars because some repeated metaphorical imagery eluded me, and the use of samari swords was distracting.

Would love for an artist and/or someone who studies sex to explain how the finger and limb severing really was sexual! I agree, I just have no idea why.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was kind of a poem. It left me feeling...not altogether satisfied. But it wasn't because it didn't wrap up neatly; it was because it ends on a note where the protagonist is making, in my view, and obviously self-destructive choice. It was troubling. In a good way! Also, what a creative premise/mode of storytelling. I recommend this book.

[Vladimir Veškovac · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bezveze...

[John Blacksad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aktüel, internet çağı ve avrupa cinselliği temalı, #mubi filmi şeysi gibi bi şey. Olmasa olurmuş.

[Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inicijalno mi se dopao preview ovog stripa a onda su me loše i prosečne kritike odvratile od kupovine da bih ga na kraju uzeo na nekom sniženju. Pogrešio bih da sam propustio ovaj strip.

U priči se konstantno prepliću stvarnorst i fikcija i samim tim što su JH i Sarah on-line ljubavnici to daje dodatnu dubinu tom preplitanju jer pitanje je da li je on line odnos stvarnost ili fikcija.
JH je konceptualni umetnik kome je okruženje previše dosadno i on traži uzbuđenje koje nalazi u svojoj on line ljubavnici. Sarah mu daje dodatni izazov koji on mora da ispuni i njihova fiktivna romansa kreće da se preliva u realnost samim tim što JH ima želju da ostvari i u stvarnosti svoj odnos sa Sarom. Roman se završava tako što do njihovog odnosa dolazi u stvarnosti i mi saznajemo da se i kompletna fikcija njihovog odnosa prelila u realnost time što ju je JH u vidu video instalacije realizovao kroz svoju izložbu.

Rupper i Mulot veoma vešto postavljaju pitanja ljubavnog odnosa u modernom svetu kroz šarmantnu priču i dopadljive likove i situacije kao i zabavne (Woodz Allen-ovske) dijaloge.

Vizuelno je ovaj strip fenomenalan. Crtež me je zaista oduševio svojom živošću. Postoje prelepi kadrovi preko strana i vizelno je vrlo dosledno prikazan život u Parizu i okruženje i amosfera Pariza.

Definitivna preporuka za čitanje i podsetnik sebi da više verujem svojoj intuiciji nego prosečnim kritikama.

[Kate Atherton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty much perfection. A quick read, an enticing couple of protagonists, rich coloring to die for and a simple but deep and mysterious love affair at the core of the plot. The Perineum technique refers to a sex act, but more, it is a through line and metaphor for this man's stunted growth, inability to commit to a creative idea, a lover, or a life for himself in SPITE of success as a video creator and editor. The book has an incredible entrance scene, depicting two people falling off a huge tower, fighting with swords as a symbol for...something, I'm not going to give it away. This book gives the audience a LOT of credit that we will understand and follow exactly what all of these surreal, art video scenes are talking about...and we DO! Thank you, Jerome Mulot for trusting me! Thank you for creating something so coded and cool, shrouded in mysterious water droplets, as big as a melon and cool cool teals at a masked swingers dinner. This book succeeds at everything it shoots for and it shoots for the stars. Not a word or color is out of place or not needed and everything is communicated with ease and beauty. Easily one of the best and most complex sex comics I have read to date.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back cover describes The Perineum Technique as "a contemporary meditation on seduction and intimacy in our age of hyperconnectivity": it's a graphic novel about an artist, JH, who meets a woman, Sarah, on OKCupid; they proceed to have Skype video chats where they talk about sex and watch each other getting themselves off. He's done this before but usually just once before either meeting up with someone or not, but this is different: they've been talking for a week and have had a dozen chats. He invites her out; she says no. He invites her out again; she counters with an invitation to a swinger's party. After the party, she brings up the technique of the title, which she says she'll teach him, so he can last longer. And after that comes a challenge for JH: Sarah says she'll be away for four months, and if he doesn't ejaculate while she's gone (which is one of the things the technique is about), they can go out to dinner when she gets back. We then see JH in Sarah's absence, working on pieces for his upcoming gallery show, kind of miserable, kind of driven crazy by sexual frustration, but also artistically flourishing: he's been unhappy with his work for a long time, and now he's doing things he's excited about. I like the way we see bits of JH's art/dreams/fantasies, how his interior landscape is also the landscape of the book, and I like how the book explores a relationship that's sexual before being anything else (if it ever is going to be anything else, which it may or may not be). And I like the art, which is playful and coolly sexy and just lots of fun: there's one scene where we see the cast of an opera backstage, waiting for the curtain to go up, and the text is just speech bubbles near the ceiling saying "whoops" and "sorry" - the voices of JH and Sarah making their way out of their seats to find a quieter spot to talk before the show starts.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book presents some interesting ideas about sex and relationships in the days of online dating, but doesn't commit to examining them in a meaningful way. When I reached the end I had assumed I was about halfway through it because there were several pieces I was waiting on to come together.

A couple specific problems I had were with the people. They are unlikable and uninteresting. I generally see this critique given to stories unfairly when they have problematic characters who are meant to viewed as such. That being said, I didn't see anything in this book that leads the reader to be critical of these characters in that way. Beyond their personalities, this sphere of life where people play around at parties and make art (funded by who?) is too bourgeois for me and lacked any sort of critique that would have made spending the afternoon with them palatable.

The relationship at the center of the book needed to be given more time and seen to the end. I won't spoil anything, but will just say that it ends exactly where it should've started to become more interesting and psychologically probing. It could be argued that this unsatisfactory end mimics the theme of denied orgasm, a self-chosen unfulfilling relationship but I'm just not buying it. This theme is interesting, but is handled lazily.

This brings me to my last complaint, the art. While I appreciate art that is held back in detail or amateur on purpose, it falls flat for me here because the line work is only there enough to serve the story. The colors look great and give definition to the scenes, but they were done by a different artist than the author. It's just too similar to how the ideas are handled. Just there enough to make the story work, and ultimately, lazy in my opinion.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two privileged people (dis)connect in the age of hyper-connectivity. They have jobs, but they are certainly not toiling away or worrying about how to make a living. Plus one of them (and later we find out, the other one, too) is an Artist with A. With the limitations of this framework, the story is rather successful. An older man who thinks his newest OKCupid find is "different," and a younger woman who is reluctant to meet face-to-face or assign any emotional value to her relationship with this man. There is a certain perceived lack of emotional connection; the young woman seemingly detached and self-centered (though her actions can also be seen as caution and weariness with the social media age), while the man seems to desperately connect, though he is unable to prove that what he wants is "more than" sex. Thus, we're left to think that neither one is better than the other, and perhaps we're expected to want them to connect emotionally, and perhaps they do towards the end. The stuff about dating apps, sex, social media is all acutely observed and executed. The artsy depictions of sex are not there just because, but actually work in the plot.

Overall, a successful depiction of how some people experience sex and love in the golden era of social media. This being a French tale of course means that things are always more complicated and less certain than what serves as a conclusive, satisfactory stand or ending.

Recommended for those who like orgasms, sperm, samurai, dirty clothes, and taking baths.

[Matthew Archibald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. I didn't like this book. I got it because it was recommended on a blog about graphic novels that I follow, and I like to try new things, but this didn't do it for me.

I guess I didn't necessarily mind that it was all about sex. I kind of figured that out before I started. I just didn't really like either of the main characters in the book. (I can't even bring myself to call him the protagonist.)

The art was very nice (hence two stars) but it was full of imagery and apparent metaphor that I didn't really understand. Maybe I would have liked it better if I were smarter about that kind of thing...

Also, the lettering was very small and not very dark, making it virtually impossible to read without my glasses. A book that goes out of its way to remind me that I'm getting older is just asking for a bad review. :-)

[Juju · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll give the Perineum Technique credit for turning me on to the work of these creators. It caught my eye years ago, then was checked out for months, so I picked up the Grande Odalisque instead, and I've have enjoyed that series, and those lovable, nihilistic art thief foxes. So my expectations were high for this, and while there were some good moments, TPT seemed like an experimental sketch. For a graphic novel promising the erotic, whose main character is a visual artist, I found is not very erotic or creative. The setup of their first date had fantastic potential, but ultimately I just didn't like what little of JH's character was developed. For me, this was more indugent-experimental-video-installation than great work of art. But sometimes you need to make some of the former in order to produce the latter.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting read that centers on the boundaries of sexuality and desire in a most unconventional way. This book is ambitious in its telling, and the artwork matches that scope well. The story centers on JH, a man who seeks constant sexual gratification (seriously this man talks about sex everywhere) and his pursuit of Sarah, a woman he meets on an online chatroom. JH's advances to meet in person are rebuffed frequently, but when it does happen, Sarah challenges JH further - both emotionally and sexually. There's a lot going on in The Perineum Technique, but it's all executed at the highest level. Truly a book that pushes the boundaries of the comic medium further than most, and I really liked it for the attempt.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

On reading The Grande Odalisque and Olympia, there were notes about Ruppert and Mulot having written another graphic novel, so I decided to read it. Very different feel from ridiculous art-theft action, but sufficiently strange, interesting, and enjoyable. Was briefly unsure about the wavy borders around some panels but eventually realized they must depict the images in the final art show; not immediately obvious since they occur as part of the narrative, even if they are sometimes fantastical; conversely, there are other scenes that are likewise fantastic and probably are metaphoric representations of events, but which don't have the wavy borders.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

My three star rating for this comes mostly from the gorgeous illustration and amazing visuals for sex/intimacy in this book. I was not crazy about the characters or storyline though. Sarah is consistently terrible to JH, refusing to talk with him about life, to meet up with him, lying to him, and not going to his gallery opening. JH is pathetic in his longing for this woman, holding out for some weird reason when he knows almost nothing about her. Their relationship seemed toxic and I did not like that the ending supposed them being together. Would love to see more from this illustrator as I think they are great with colors and expressing a lot of emotion through their drawings. Also JH's gallery exhibit was really fascinating and would be awesome to see in real life.