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A common element of happy endings is a denouement, a French word pronounced as follows:
The Online Etymology Dictionary explains the word as follows:
1752, from French dénouement "an untying" (of plot), from dénouer "untie" (Old French desnouer) from des- "un-, out" (see dis-) + nouer "to tie, knot," from Latin nodus "a knot," from PIE root *ned- "to bind, tie."=======
The Literary Devices website's explanation of the word includes the following passages:
The denouement of a story occurs just after the climax and is the final moment in which there is resolution for any remaining conflicts in the plot. All the loose ends of the plot are tied up in this last scene, secrets are revealed, and there may be a sense of catharsis for the reader or audience member at this point. It is also a return to normalcy for the characters, though there may be a “new normal” after the intricacies of the plot have occurred and been revealed.======
Generally, in a comedy the characters end up happier than they were at the beginning of the plot (a “happier ever after” scenario), while in tragedies the characters end up worse off than in the beginning, often with one or more deaths.
The word denouement comes from the French word desnouer, which means “to untie” (originally from the Latin word for knot, nodus). In a sense, the definition of denouement is the untying of all the knots created throughout a piece of drama or fiction.
Most works of fiction and drama include a denouement as a way of wrapping up the story and providing a conclusion, whether or not it is ambiguous. Only in some post-modern stories is there no real denouement.
In my previous article The Psychology of the Movie's Happy Ending, there is a video of movie producer Lindsay Doran explaining that the effective happy ending of Dirty Dancing happens mostly AFTER the performance dance of Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle. In other words, it is mostly the movie's denouement that makes the audience happy.
In the below video, the performance dance lasts from 3:10 through 3:30, and then the denouement lasts through the video's remainder.
The denouement comprises the following segments:
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3:30 - 3:34
Baby and Johnny laugh and embrace in their relief that they have completed their dance successfully.
In this moment, Baby and Johnny portray Positive Emotion and Accomplishment, which are two of the five elements of a happy ending, according to Doran's lecture on happy endings. The rest of the denouement will portray the other three happy-ending elements -- Engagement, Relationships and Meaning.
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3:35 - 3:38
Baby's parents and sister applaud the performance.
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3:39 - 3:59
Baby and Johnny resume dancing in the middle of the ballroom. As the music continues, the ballroom audience gradually gets up and joins the dancing.
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4:00 - 4:04
Baby's parents and sister get up.
The mother Marjorie Houseman begins to dance with Neil Kellerman. The sister Lisa Houseman begins to dance will Billy Kostecki.
The father Jake Houseman begins to talk with Penny Johnson. Although the movie audience cannot hear the conversation between Jake and Penny, he is asking her about her recovery. Penny kisses Jake on his cheek. As their conversation continues, Penny will confirm that Johnny was completely innocent in her pregnancy and abortion.
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4:05 - 4:13
Even old women join the dancing.
Marjorie and Neil continue to dance.
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4:14 - 4:17
Vivian Pressman stands up. She is upset and turns away to leave the ballroom.
The movie has two main villains -- Robbie Gould and Vivian Pressman -- who had engaged in meaningless sex. Robbie is not even in the ballroom. Vivian's departure symbolizes the defeat of both villains.
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4:18 - 4:20
Tito Suarez is conducting his orchestra, which has taken over the playing of the song. During the dance performance, the song had been played on a record player, but now Suarez's orchestra continues playing the song endlessly.
Max Kellerman expresses his surprised that Suarez's orchestra seems to have the sheet music for the song.
This moment indicates that Suarez and his orchestra had known in advance that Baby and Johnny would perform their dance at the end of the talent show. Suarez had kept this secret from Max, because Suarez had wanted Baby and Johnny to perform.
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4:21 - 4:44
As Baby and Johnny leave the ballroom, they are stopped by Jake, who has just finished his talk with Penny. Now informed, Jake apologizes to Johnny.
Jake compliments Baby for looking wonderful during the dance performance.
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4:45 - 4:51
Baby embraces her father, who obviously struggles to not cry.
This is the moment that causes all dopey girls in the movie audience to burst into tears. Because Jake manages to suppress his own tears, all the girls reflexively release their own tears for him.
Their bawling will turn into a flood during the remaining moments.
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4:52 - 5:31
More dancing. Lisa dances with Billy. Now that Vivian is gone, Lisa no longer will be reminded of her relationship with Robbie. Lisa already is moving on to future relationships with other men.
Tito dances with Penny. She obviously has recovered completely from her sickness.
Max dances happily with an unknown woman. He no longer is angry about Johnny.
Jake dances with Marjorie. Baby's parents are ending their vacation happily.
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5:32 - 5:43
Baby and Johnny have returned to the center of the ballroom and are dancing.
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5:44 - 6:06
A close-up of the faces of Baby and Johnny as they continue dancing.
Johnny mouths the song's lyrics. Johnny is communicating to Baby that HE has had the time of his life with her. Baby reacts by looking up and smiling adoringly toward Johnny.
The movie already knows that SHE has had the time of her life, but now sees that HE too has had the time of his life and is even mouthing the long's lyrics to confirm this feeling of his.
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6:07 - 6:12
A close-up of Baby and Johnny slowly moving their faces together into a kiss.
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6:13 - 6:48
A distant camera shot. Baby and Johnny are standing still as all the other people in the ballroom dance around them.
Johnny lifts Baby slowly up into the air and then slowly lowers her down to the ground.
Baby and Johnny resume dancing with everyone else in the ballroom.
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In this video, the dance performance lasted 3:20 minutes and then the denouement lasted.3:18 minutes. These two parts of the happy ending are equally long.
The moment when Jake almost cries is in the middle of the denouement. From the denouement's beginning to Jake's suppression of tears lasts 1:32 minutes (from 3:18 to 4:50 in the above video). From the suppression of tears to the denouement's end lasts 1:58 minutes (from 4:50 to 6:48). So, within the denouement there is a build-up of emotion to a sudden outburst and then there is a gradual decline of tension so that the audience's crybabies can compose themselves by the time the movie theater's lights are turned on.
As Doran explained in her lecture, the denouement is the more effective part, because it portrays the final happiness of many relationships. Beyond the relationship between Baby and Johnny, all the relationships within her family are happy. Beyond Baby's family, the relationships of the hotel's employees and guests are happy.
The performance dance is the part that the movie audience will remember most, but the denouement actually was the part that stimulated the audience's happy emotions the most.
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The following video clip shows the amusing denouement of the movie Zoolander.
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