Hopelessness of the French couple (7)

I believe the answer is:

despair

'hopelessness' is the definition.
(despair is a kind of hopelessness)

'of the french couple' is the wordplay.
'of the french' becomes 'des' ('of the' in French).
'couple' becomes 'pair' (synonyms).
'des'+'pair'='DESPAIR'

(Other definitions for despair that I've seen before include "The feeling that nothing will turn out well" , "Despond" , "displaying lack of optimism" , "sort of counsel?" , "Despondency" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Telegraph.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app