I have to disagree with the multitude of the posts saying that Chantal wants to stay in Kuwait forever, or even for any longer than she has to.
I think that Chantal knows very well that the process of bringing Salah to Canada will be long and arduous. When she speaks of wanting to stay in Kuwait, she is simply convincing herself that she is excited about what is ultimately her only option. In the meantime, she is on edge about having to keep Salah complacent and encouraged about their prospects, so she's trying to keep her own spirits up, whether consciously or subconsciously.
I think that she is optimistically replaying the benefits of the Kuwait stay in her own mind:
- Kuwait is good for Chantal's mental health in so much as she can't resist drugs if they are available, and in Kuwait they are not available
- While staying in Kuwait, Salah can't interact with other women easily, preventing him from straying, and is financially reliant on Chantal, leading them to spend a lot of time together, living out a domestic fantasy and *falling in love*
- And finally, Chantal may be able to bring Salah to Canada, and in her mind, he will then owe her an emotional and financial debt, while both of them reap what is ultimately the better country to settle down in long-term
What this will come down to is not whether Chantal wants to stay in Kuwait or not, because let's be real, she will do whatever she needs to do to keep a man. What this comes down to is whether she will be able to bring Salah to Canada. And honestly, I would not be surprised if she figures out a way. Maybe this is too optimistic, but she does have an insane talent of just... doing whatever she wants.
I don't disagree with you, but down this road of thinking and we ultimately reach its logical conclusion, which is nihilistic enough to make an edgelord blush: Chantal doesn't
want anything.
Food? She hasn't wanted food in years. She gets no joy from it really. It is like a seasoned heroin user who no longer gets a rush from the heroin, just a dull, mind-numbing warmth that makes him or her approximate happiness for a moment, even if that state remains elusive. It has been a long time since we saw her eyes literally roll into the back of her head from a hit of Burger King. In retrospect, I think a lot more of that was her pretending to be outrageous for views. But at times, it was pretty genuinely outrageous joy. That's gone.
She doesn't even really want a man. Men make her nervous. She fears that they may raise their voices to her. She speaks to them in very non-genuine babydoll voices. Bibi, Nader, and Salah all get a variation of the voice. Everything in her mating call is mimicry; none of it is spontaneous. It is the show of having Salah. All you bitches have to swallow the fact that she is not only prettier than you, she gets the prettiest boy! It is the envy and accolades and attention that she wants, not the guy himself. Those warm her insides like food does. But they also haven't been providing the rushes lately, probably because she is feeling very insecure at the moment.
Sure, she doesn't want to stay in Kuwait, but she'll pretend she is on the road to Shambala just to make the bitches sick with envy. The camera can hide everything; all she has to do is what comes naturally to her: be a perfectly phony influencer based on a dumbed-down amalgamation of all the corrupt and self-serving influencers who inspired her. She made damn well sure to make sure she is
stuck in Kuwait. Like absolutely stuck. This is to entrap Salah into lifelong servitude for her as her trophy stud to show off. The problem with her strategy is the problem with her thinking every time: being in Kuwait is
her responsibility. She brought her situation on
herself. Salah can use that as carte blanche to kick her to the curb if he needs to, and unless he is a very peculiar man with very peculiar motives, he will indeed kick her to the curb when she becomes a liability more than an asset. (i.e., soon) She wants the fantasy princess life, like all 6-year-olds do, and she has gone all-in on making it happen in Kuwait.
What Chantal really wants is to be free from all wants by indulging in her wants to the bitter end, which is, of course, oblivion. Human signifiers like want, love, empathy, selflessness, enlightenment, et. al. are not to be found here.
