All You Need Is Lust
The Joanne Woodward-Paul Newman documentary proves that lust can turn to love, which matters more than commitment
I have long believed that if you don’t feel lust at the beginning of a romantic relationship, it does not bode well for it to last. Yes, I know we’ve been told that you don’t need to feel a spark or chemistry right off the bat— a slow burn might be better — and, anyway, lust peters out after a while.
But a study co-authored by Jim Pfaus, a professor of psychology at Concordia University in Montreal seems to prove the so-called experts wrong. Lust can lead to love, he finds.
“It turns out that love and desire activate specific but related areas in the brain.… Love is actually a habit that is formed from sexual desire as desire is rewarded. It works the same way in the brain as when people become addicted to drugs.”
And nowhere is that more evident than in the new HBO documentary series on Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, The Last Movie Stars, which chronicles their relationship and marriage that lasted for more than 50 years, through his infidelity (after their initial infidelity that lasted for five years before Newman divorced his first wife), drunkenness and insecurities, and her professional jealousy.
