Death Drive in Lacan (7) : Between the two deaths

We use the example of Papillon, a 1970’s film about the unrelenting escape attempts of Henri Charriere (Steven McQueen), a falsely-accused prisoner who exemplifies the state of existing ’between the two deaths’. The various descriptions that Lacan offers of Antigone in his Seminar VII (“not giving way on her desire“, etc.) apply perfectly to Charriere, who, consigned to an existence of social death, pursues his objective of escaping to the very end (“beyond the pleasure principle“) and thereby embodies the death drive.