| That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French | |
| Author: | Stephen King |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Published In: | Everything's Eventual |
| Publication Type: | Anthology |
| Publisher: | Scribner |
| Media Type: | Print (Paperback) |
| Pub Date: | 1998 |
"That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French” is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King. It was originally published in the June 22, 1998 issue[1] of The New Yorker magazine. In 2002, it was collected in King's collection Everything's Eventual. It focuses on a married woman in a car ride on vacation constantly repeating the same events over and over, each event ending with the same gruesome outcome. In his closing remarks, King suggested that Hell is not "other people," as Sartre claimed, but repetition, enduring the same pain over and over again without end.
As the story progresses, a woman (Carol) begins to have déjà vu of the same car ride on their second honeymoon with the same bloody outcome every time. It never ends. It is implied, but never said, that they have crashed on the plane to their honeymoon location and they may be in Hell or Purgatory.
This story has been adapted as part of Stephen King's Dollar Baby Program. One adaptation, titled "That Feeling" by writer/director/editor Paul Inman, was completed in 2021 and debuted in film festivals in 2022. There it won several awards including, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Score, and Best International Short Film. It was also an Official Selection at the Stephen King Rules Film Festival in Davenport, IA, where many of the Dollar Baby films were presented online with Stephen King's blessing for the first time.
There are at least three other known official Dollar Baby versions of this short story.