The couple’s sextolet

The anima, differentiated from the feminine of the man, is presented in a dual form: complexual (familiar, associated with the imago of the mother) and archetypal (foreign, inciting the individual to detach himself from her). This corresponds to a man’s dual orientation, as exemplified in Ida Lupino’s film, The Bigamist. These two opposite but complementary forms also characterise the woman’s animus. The film by Joseph Mankiewicz, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, is cited as an example of the creative tension produced within a woman by the “two spirits” dwelling inside her. Nevertheless, to take this differentiation between the complex and the archetype into account, it is advisable to substitute the sextolet (six occurrences instead of four) for the figure of the quaternion of the couple Jung presented in The Psychology of the Transference, which recognises the unconscious relationship of the two partners with the anima and animus in their two opposite forms.