entre deux eaux

08:42 May 25, 2016 

Finally got the image, cannot share unfortunately, but ethereal, otherworldly, suspension etc. fit. what I see has more to do with clouds than dust or even water actually so thanks so much all for your time and suggestions.

How to I grade??? Have to split it!

07:20 May 25, 2016 

@ Phillipa Thanks !!!! Mood ! Yes.
Setsuko (it is easy to find on net) is Balthus's wife, the video is about her husband's studio left as is after his death: from dust to dust. But this is just one sentence in the text I'm translating.... so I'd better get back to it. Cheers all!

07:07 May 25, 2016 

I think you need to go a bit further from the French. You could try something like 'The mood the work conjures up is misty, ethereal, a world suspended between two elements, just like...'

07:02 May 25, 2016 

@ TM haven't access to the film, ok replace décor by setting (which is actually what I had decided on ) or scene. The photographs are also dimly lit, ghostly, the faces warped. I even thought of eerie instead of 'dusty' (which I really don't like) ... in poussièreuse, there is the notion of time ... that eludes me

06:49 May 25, 2016 

I think you really need to see the video in question before you can write about it at this sort of level!
We don't use 'décor' in this way in EN, it is usually only used to refer to the 'décoration' in a building etc., but NOT for a 'scene' or 'setting' in anything like a theatrical or cinema context. So it could be wildly inappropriate here...

And as for 'powdery', that hardly seems an adjective that can be applied in EN to a setting (unless it is a snow scene or a flour mill!) — why do you want to change 'poussiéreuse' into 'poudreuse'? Again, without seeing it, it's impossible to know just
how literally this can be interpreted...

06:31 May 25, 2016 

So it turns out the sentence describes a video. I am risking another proposal:

The décor is as always powdery, otherworldly and afloat as Setsuko Klossowska de Rola appears to be, drifting like John Everett Millais’s Ophelia.

Does not seem possible to keep the between- between.

Thank you all. the discussion helps. I would love to share points around, but it doesn't seem possible.

10:56 May 24, 2016 

Thanks, I've just posted it!

10:41 May 24, 2016 

Jane you should post your suggestion. There are some other good ideas, but I like yours the best!

05:37 May 24, 2016 

a hazy (rather than clouded) atmosphere? Which you may be able to tie in with the ethereal/dreamlike suggestion below
barely submerged/suspended/floating (in a watery realm somewhere between two worlds - stretching it somewhat?)
on the verge/threshold/brink
Just a few suggestions for you to play around with!

20:14 May 23, 2016 

@ TonyM well scrap that idea then! catch u all later, night!

16:46 May 23, 2016 

Should post a suggestion!

16:05 May 23, 2016 

Doesn't really sound terribly natural or idiomatic to me in EN, I'm afraid.

Why have you taken 'poussiéreuse' towards 'clouded'? I see it more along the lines of 'misty', or maybe the idea of dust particles dancing in a shaft of sunlight? Nor do I quite see why you have opted for 'consistently' — consistent compared with what?

The construction using 'there floats...' feels rather awkward to me here; I don't see why you can't just say 'floats Setsuko', or possibly avoid the reversal altogether...

And to me, mid-water sounds to me more like half-way between the surface of the water and the bottom, like at 'mid-depth'; 'mid-water' just sounds odd and awkward to me.

Of course, it would help if we knew what was being described here — is it a specific picture? If so, is it available on line?

15:52 May 23, 2016 

Thanks @ Tony M and all for your help. I am leaning toward something like:
...in a consistently clouded atmosphere, there floats Setsuko as if between worlds, mid-water, like John Everett Millais' Ophélia

15:26 May 23, 2016 

Note that there is a rather dated EN expression that equates to this, though the underlying meaning isn't really quite the same (more literal than figurative): " 'Twixt wind and water"
However, I don't think for one moment that would be appropriate to try and shoehorn into your current context!

14:34 May 23, 2016 

Could you do something with this?
http://www.goodnight35.co/asp_scripts/print_image.asp?Websit...
Similarly, in Ben Timpson’s artwork “Ophelia”, Ophelia floats between two planes: the surface and the bottom. In this scene, she has rejected continuing to live, turning her face away from the light at the surface. However, she is looking off to the side rather than to the bottom, almost as if she wishes there was some middle ground between the suffering of life and the uncertainty of death. In this moment of hovering between the two planes, she seems to secondguess her de[s]cision and reconsider the advantages of each extreme.
https://timpsonwiki.wikispaces.com/Ophelia?responseToken=0f2...

11:15 May 23, 2016 

Your 'suspended'

10:53 May 23, 2016 

How about something like 'suspended between two worlds and two elements'?

10:22 May 23, 2016 

Thank you for your input Louisa, the idea is that the subject photographed seems to be floating (like Ophelia) just under the surface of the water. but to echo 'entre deux mondes' does anything come to mind...