Women hated the picture, absolutely loathed the picture, with such a passion that it was unbelievable, simply because here were three men going off to London and not only having a sexual affair, but they were really out to fall in love with someone, and that was the ultimate disloyalty to the American housewife and to the American woman, so they could never like this picture. It’s shocking in the sense that the characters display a simplicity which is so crude, so innocent, that when they’re given a chance to do what they really want, their main interest is in gambling and women. They’re not interested in the intelligence of a woman but rather that the woman fall in love with them. That’s why women are shocked by this film. The relationship between the men was such a separate thing. A lot of women see the drinking scene and they’re bored the first second they see it. They’re bored the first second there’s a drunk there. They don’t like the idea of people revealing themselves.

What life, including marriage, is all about is women versus men. There is a constant and, I think, a lovely war going on. Men and women are basically different. Women are the protectors – men can’t have children and don’t have the instinct for motherhood – and men protect the protectors. Men are built for adventure. It makes for unhappiness in a marriage when women don’t understand the basic differences between them and that men do need adventure. In Husbands the story is about three men who are seeking the adventure they need, not only an extramarital thing. While sex is marvelous, it’s not related to the rest of what marriage is. Sex is an animal thing. Indiscretions are a small part of all life. If it’s an indiscretion, it’s not really important. On the other hand, if the affair is serious, the wife has to find out why it’s serious and why her partner isn’t fulfilled within the marriage. I say that if you’re a married man you have the right to get drunk, screw around and go to the whorehouse, but not fall in love. These three men are searching for immortality and they want to relive a love that they dreamt of when they were younger. These feelings are then displaced onto women who just can’t deal with it. This is absolutely a man’s story. I think that the interest a woman could have in a picture like this would be in seeing the relationship between men done on a real level.