English to French translation

Dénouement

January 3, 2006

I’d like to paradoxically start the new year with a dénouement (also spelled denouement): the explanation of something that has previously been unclear or that has been kept secret, especially at the end of a book or a play. It is a French word, which comes from Old French desnouement (untying) from desnouer (to undo): des + nouer (to tie), from Latin nodare, from nodus (knot).

I don’t really know why I like it so much. I heard it at the weekend while watching a Hercule Poirot movie; it was particularly well-suited to the last scene, where he gathers all the suspects to untie of a myriad of knots in the intrigue, leaving us with an explanation that was perfectly ordered and clear. And I KNEW the maid did it.

Comments

It's like those three act 16th or 17th century plays with the "desenredo" at the conclusion, no?

Interpreter

Rebonjour...
I, too, have always liked the word and the image that it represents: dénouement. Indeed, the word came up in a French conversation class recently, when one student mentioned that she had been confused at the end of the recently appearing film "Caché": "je ne comprends presque jamais les dénouements des films français" said she; i responded in jest that the reason for the confusion was perhaps that some French films leave the viewer with a "nouement" rather than a "dénouement." Fun, those back-formations!

That is such a good description of a lot of French films, and the reason why I love them so much.

Previous
Break
December 16, 2005

Next
Tonton, Petit Nicolas, Raffarinade and Éléphant
January 5, 2006