Tony M Nov 23, 2013:

(2) 1) To me, one person talking about a 'gentleman' had to be a non sequitur with what followed

2) Since people don't usually 'bouffer' objects belong to other people, I assumed 'il' was some kind of machine that does swallowing; maybe 'il' for 'distributeur' rather than 'elle' for 'machine'; and it's common enough for people to refer to irritating inanimate objects as 'ce con'. Matthew spotted another clue that I had not: the object of the 'bouffing' is 'la', which could correspond to 'la carte bancaire'

3) The other character's query about its being the right code seemed to confirm the above scenario, and rule out others (such as a stray dog eating his wallet).

Does that help you to see how my reasoning (what little of it I have left) works, and also see why your confusing question may have evinced unwelcome responses from people whom, however, you might do well not to insult, since as a beginner, you never know when they might be helpful to you in the future.

Hint: There is a paper-and-pencil 'edit your post' logo at the top right-hand corner of each post (disabled after 24 hrs)

Tony M Nov 23, 2013:

@ William Well, welcome to the profession, then!

However, you do need to appreciate that when you post a question with no explanatory context, containing basic terms that anyone might be expected to know, it is not easy from the point of view of prospective answerers to know exactly what it is you need to know; so if people assume you are asking something rather facile, you need to ask yourself why?
If you had worded you question "Now I realize that 'bouffer' means to swallow, but can anyone help me even begin to guess what might be going on in this scene from a movie that unfortunately I haven't been able to find to view online"
You see, with three clues, I was able to guess it — as a matter of pure interest (without reproach), why did you not get it too from those same clues? I mean, that's not about experience in translation, beginner or old lag (= me!), your powers of deduction can be the same.
(contd.)

William Bosich (asker) Nov 23, 2013:

I saw the film scene and it showed exactly what Tony M had assumed. The ATM ate the woman's credit card and she got mad at it. I am a beginner. Thanks to all.

James Perry Nov 23, 2013:

I agree: there is absolutely no context here. The asker should know that "bouffer" is slang for "to eat" as others have mentioned here.

Grazia Brunello Nov 21, 2013:

They talk of code so I agree with Tony M. Since we don't know the context it seems the most probable scenario.
Maybe his card was rejected while paying for his shopping?

William Bosich (asker) Nov 21, 2013:

I haven't seen the film yet, Tony. The movie title is "L'Ex-Femme de Ma Vie". These lines are said at around 9 minutes through the movie.

Tony M Nov 21, 2013:

@ Asker Can you tell us WHICH movie? If you find it online, it would be very helpful if you gave us, for example, the timings at this point, so we can go and see it for ourselves — though I rather suspect, once you've seen the movie, it will probbaly be obvious!

William Bosich (asker) Nov 21, 2013:

I still need to check the video. These are lines from a French comedy movie. According to the timing in the originals, all lines are connected. I'll watch the scene tonight and let you guys know.

Tony M Nov 21, 2013:

Context? What situation are these two people in?
Is there any connection between the first and second lines? On the face of it, they seem like non sequiturs — some kind of Pinteresque dialogue?

My guess would be that the second speaker is cross that a cash-dispenser seems to be on the point of 'swallowing' his card — perhaps because, as the other speaker suggests, he may have entered the code wrongly.

But all this is nothing more than a fantasy scenario based entirely on pure speculation, without some concrete surrounding context to work with.