The author aims to examine the intricacies of the experience of perfection by drawing on clinical material provided by a patient who remained confined for years in an imperative of internal perfection, leading to various obsessive defense mechanisms that limited her connections with the external world.

The author revisits what in Freud’s work on primary narcissism is associated with understanding the need for perfection but continues a theoretical exploration of this concept based on the construction of ego identity in relation to its object or, conversely, independently of this relationship. An identity within an evolving psychic space transitioning from bi to tri-dimensional aspects. A transformative movement in the patient’s material will allow her to shift from a rigid position in her perfection towards a more flexible, imperfect yet human position.