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Freud's (1901) examination of the motives of the young man who forgot the word ‘aliquis’ is used to examine the respective roles of representation and affect in interpretation. The author bases his discussion on a controversy dating back to André Green's paper on affect (1970). Three different types of representation are identified in the ‘aliquis’ episode. The quality of the affect connected with these three representational series varies according to the vicissitudes of the affect after repression. Freud's interpretation is organised around derivatives of these three representational series; these derivatives form a new sequence, the ‘internal spiral’, which is the locus of the interpretation. In ‘aliquis’ Freud manages the affect, using it as a support rather than interpreting it. A paradoxical function of interpretation is postulated, suggesting that its revelatory effect may be based on the maintenance of repression in a different register.