Je te Rends ton Amour - English Translation

This is my English translation of one of my favourite Mylène Farmer songs.
Laurent Boutonnat's video is also a masterpiece, as usual. I have added some notes about my personal interpretation of this song based on the lyrics/video combination.


M'extraire du cadre
Ma vie suspendue
Je rêvais mieux
Je voyais l'âtre
Tous ces inconnus
Toi parmi eux

Extracting myself from the frame,
My life, suspended
I dreamt of better.
I saw the hearth
All those unknowns,
You among them.

Toile,
Fibre qui suinte
Des meurtrissures
Tu voyais l'âme
Mais j'ai vu ta main
Choisir Gauguin

Canvas,
Fibre that oozes
Bruises
You saw the soul,
But I saw your hand
Choosing Gaugin


Et je te rends ton amour
Redeviens les contours
Je te rends ton amour
C'est mon dernier recours
Je te rends ton amour
Au moins pour toujours
Redeviens les contours
" la femme nue debout "

And I return your love,
Become once more the contours,
I return your love
It's my last resort
I return your love
At least, forever
Become once more the contours
"The naked woman standing"

M'extraire du cadre
La vie étriquée
D'une écorchée
J'ai cru la fable
D'un mortel aimé
Tu m'as trompé

Extracting myself from the frame,
The skewed life
Of a butchered woman
I believed the fable,
Of a beloved mortal
[But] you betrayed me

Toi
Tu m'as laissé
Me compromettre
Je serai " l'Unique "
Pour des milliers d'yeux
Un nu de maître

You,
You allowed me
To compromise myself.
I will be the "unique"
For thousands of eyes
A master's nude

Et je te rends ton amour
Au moins pour toujours
Je te rends ton amour
Le miens est trop lourd
Et je te rends ton amour
C'est plus flagrant le jour
Ses couleurs se sont diluées
Et je reprends mon amour
Redeviens le contour
De mon seul maître : EGON SHIELE et...

And I return your love,
At least forever
I return your love
Mine is too heavy
And I return your love
It is more obvious in the day,
[that] it's colors are diluted
And I return your love,
Become once more the frame
Of my only master: egon shiele and ....

And I return your love,
At least forever
I return your love
Mine is too heavy
And I return your love
It is more obvious in the day,
[that] it's colors are diluted
And I return your love,
Become once more the frame
Of my only master: egon shiele and ....


Video Clip




This is my literal interpretation of the video clip:

A blind woman is betrayed by a priest who murders her.

This is my critical analysis of the video clip:

I think the fact that she is blind is a signifier for naive, misplaced trust. Her blindness seems to represent vulnerability... or anyone easily taken advantage of and/or blissfully unaware of reality, often to her own peril.

Throughout her lamentations, the distressed female character makes various allusions to painting and artists, in particular, Egon Shiele. My understanding is that she likens her horrendous objectification - whether this be physically, as the blood letting would have us believe or else figuratively, in terms of her ruthless betrayal - to Ego Shiele's pornographic subjects. Perhaps the woman's conservative, innocent background does not allow her to express what has happened to her or to communicate the crime that she has suffered. So I thought maybe she employed the bleeding canvas and rigid frame eupheminism to signify herself as victim under a cruel master. In this case the French term 'master' can actually mean both an authority figure and a great painter.

And maybe those moments where she has "extracted herself from the frame", are those moments where she is able to think objectively, free of her captivity to this rigid frame or murderous love. On the other hand, when she chooses to once again "return love", she is willingly resuming her enslavement, that is, her objectification and her naive beliefs.

Could the poor woman be sadomachistic?

Anyway, perhaps I'm thinking too hard about this video... and it could be that I'm way off the mark!!

In the end, only Farmer knows the meaning of her own complexity and these are not for me to derive. Besides, I'm sure everyone will have their own interpretation.