What does “faire bonne figure” mean in French?

Faire bonne figure is to keep your composure while things fall apart — smile, hold the line, let nobody see it. Figure here means the face, not a shape or a number, which is the trap for English speakers. It is what you do at a difficult dinner, in front of a bad review, or halfway through a performance you are barely holding together.

The opposites exist too: faire triste figure (to cut a sorry figure) and faire grise mine (to look distinctly unimpressed). Figure for “face” runs right through everyday French — se laver la figure, en pleine figure (“right in the face”). This monologue builds a whole scene around it: the voice starts to dérailler (go off the rails — yes, from rail), the singer walks on chancelante (unsteady), tries to faire bonne figure, then perd connaissance, the formal counterpart to s’évanouir.