Flummox

flummox







Y

D



–verb (used with object) Informal. 

to bewilder; confound; confuse.





　

Rohmer sees men as being [at] a disadvantage in the mating game. 



Flummoxed 

by 

feminine [conspiracies] they're always the last to know about, 



they have no choice but to open up. In the male-female universe of Autumn Tale, it is the women who are [canny] and sphinxlike while the men, desperate to be understood, spill their souls out and are no wis[er] [for] it. (Gerald, smitten, does practically all the talking when he's with Isabelle, and the [pattern] is later repeated with Magali.) 



There's a form of poetic justice in all this, and it gives the film, otherwise [strait]laced, its [jagged] wit: 



[Women] on the lookout for love may be fools, 

but 

they make sure to turn the [men] who romance them into even bigger ones.





obfuscate

nebulous



enigma sphinx 

impalpable 

impeccable implacable inscrutable



witticism

conundrum tantrum rummage Fray 

repartee

astute gumption shrewd 



mime

buffoon & charlatan

Threnody