Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

à ce qui l'a fait

English translation:

to what shaped it

Added to glossary by tatyana000
Jun 15, 2008 17:12
15 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

à ce qui l'a fait

French to English Art/Literary Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
I'm having a hard time figuring out who has done what to whom in this sentence:

Un film de fiction/un documentaire, les liens complexes qu'ils tissent avec la réalité américaine, la maniére dont ils donnent leur juste poids à ce qui l'a fait (une pause, un geste, une phrase qui passe de la rue a la fiction ou vice versa, un costume, un meuble dans une pièce, une texture sur un mur, tout cela qui compte tout autant sinon plus qu'un mode de récit ou tous les analyses de contenu qu'on a toujours voulu nous faire avaler).

I just asked my French boyfriend what is going on in this sentence and he has no clue. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Discussion

MatthewLaSon Jun 16, 2008:
How can you be so know that "l" is not referring to "film/documentary"? I know that the sentence is very poorly written and doesn't make too much because of it.
Myriam Dupouy Jun 15, 2008:
Yes, and poor translator now !
swanda Jun 15, 2008:
poor French anyway
Myriam Dupouy Jun 15, 2008:
Have you spotted other grammatical "problems" in the rest of your text so far ? Could it already be a translation ?
Myriam Dupouy Jun 15, 2008:
Maybe you could try to post your question in the English to French Kudoz too ? Or French to French ? ;o)
tatyana000 (asker) Jun 15, 2008:
Yes, I find it strange too! This is the first sentence in the paragraph. The preceding paragraph isn't really relevant.
Myriam Dupouy Jun 15, 2008:
"ou tous les analyses de contenu"...Pareil, problème grammatical... Etrange...
Myriam Dupouy Jun 15, 2008:
Pourriez-vous nous poster la phrase précédente, voire les deux...Pour l'instant, cela me paraît assez étrange, grammaticalement. Vous avez un pluriel "ils", puis "ce qui l'a fait" et non pas "ce qu'il a fait". Qui est " l' " ? Le film ? Good luck !

Proposed translations

+5
1 hr
Selected

to what shaped it

"l'" = la réalité américaine. De toute façon, il y a une erreur d'orthographe : soit "faire" est au passé composé et on devrait avoir "ce qui l'a faite", soit il est au présent, et on devrait avoir "ce qui la fait".
Peer comment(s):

agree Tony M
25 mins
agree ael
42 mins
agree katsy
2 hrs
agree Emma Paulay
21 hrs
agree jean-jacques alexandre
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thank you!"
+1
4 mins

to each element

I would avoid a literal translation and use the above to explain the list.

Just an idea !
Peer comment(s):

agree Patrice
27 mins
Something went wrong...
49 mins

to what it is made of / composed of

everything which compounds the American reality, IMO
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

to what made the film overall

Hello,

Is "l" referring to "un film/un documentaire"?

fiction movie/documentary, the complex cohesion that is interwoven with American reality, the way it (complex cohesion) contributes equally to what made it overall (the film/documentary in question).

à ce qui l'a fait = to what made it (overall, the totality of the film)

By the way, I'm not convinced of Euginimod's idea tha "l'" is referring to "réalité américaine).

I hope this helps.
Something went wrong...
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