succès de scandale

American  

[syk-sed^uh skahn-dal] / sük sɛdə skɑ̃ˈdal /

noun

French.

1. success won by reason of topical, usually scandalous, subject matter rather than by merit and critical respect.

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succès de scandale British  

/ syksɛ də skɑ̃dal /

noun

1. success of a play, book, etc, because of notoriety or its scandalous character

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Etymology

Origin of succès de scandale

literally: success of scandal

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

succès de scandale

But after its success and the succès de scandale of “Last Tango in Paris,” released in the United States the following year, Brando went back to doing movies for cash.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 17, 2019

“The Real Lolita” incorporates interviews with surviving neighbors and family members of Horner and La Salle, court documents and prison records, newspaper accounts of the crime and archival material relating to Nabokov’s succès de scandale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2018

And then came the breakthrough: Portnoy’s Complaint, the succès de scandale that made Roth the most famous writer of his day.

From Slate ● May 23, 2018

According to Mr. Gandini, the show was a succès de scandale because factory workers were staying up late to watch it.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2010

It was quite clear that Cleo, whatever gossip she might have caused in professional circles, had created no profound sensation in the town, so that not even a succès de scandale was decreed to her.

From Cleo The Magnificent Or, the Muse of the Real by Louis Zangwill

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