Matthieu Kassovitz, La Haine (1995)

Des sujets cles dans le film Le contexte national : l'immigration et l’exclusion sociale et économique en France dans les années 1990 Le contexte cinématographique français: le développement du cinéma beur et du cinéma de banlieue Les thèmes clés : liberté, égalité, fraternité ; l’immigration; la culture des jeunes Les questions stylistiques et structurelles clés: la narration du temps et de l'espace ; le choix du noir et blanc ; les influences du clip musical et des bandes dessinées.

Remarques générales Le cadre principal de La Haine met au devant de la scène les banlieues défavorisées, et le fait que les personnages principaux soient des banlieusards est au cœur de l'identité du film; pourtant la moitié du film se déroule dans le centre de Paris. Le film se positionne dans les débats contemporains importants sur la citoyenneté, la nationalité et la cohésion sociale, des questions brûlantes dans les années 1990 en France, qui sont encore bien vivantes aujourd'hui. Le film a été très bien reçu dans les festivals de cinéma et par les critiques de cinéma, mais n’a pas été apprécié tout autant par les gens des banlieues. remarques générales

The National Context:

The French paradox? the unfairness of equality

L’(in)égalité Républicaine: universal equality between all citizens - a philosophical concept – not close to the reality of non-white, non-bourgeois French people’s everyday lives, where ethnic, class and gender differences determine their futures all the time.

The banlieues, the cités: post-war reconstruction of French cities leads to creation of low-cost, high -rise housing estates on the outskirts of cities. Problems of access to services and of high concentrations of low-waged or unemployed young people, and ghettoised (effectively segregated) schooling. Geographical, social, educational marginalisation.

An alienating and isolating built environment…..

Film starts with riots and ends with a shoot-out, and images of police brutality and youth violence continue throughout. Recalls real-life riots which spread through banlieues in Paris and other cities through , and foreshadows other riots in 1995 and La Haine pinpoints the well-documented racism of the French police, but also pits its cohesive trio – black, blanc, beur – (black, white, North-African) against bourgeois society from which they are also excluded: the police are the police of the bourgeoisie.

The Film Context: La Haine belongs to a group of films that have been called Banlieue films, where the cité (housing project) features not just as the backdrop to e.g. a love story, but is an important part of the plot itself and a determining feature in what happens to the characters depicted. A kind of realism is used, but n.b. NOT documentary. Also at the same time ‘Beur cinema’ develops: this is the cinema of the second generation of North Africans in France. Films by North-African-French about North-African-French topics and characters.

La Haine keys into some of these concerns, particularly with the character of Saïd, but also makes many references to American ‘black’ cultural concerns. Music and posters of Bob Marley, use of English in graffiti and overt references to films of Spike Lee, but particularly to Menace II Society (1993, Hughes brothers) and Boyz ‘n’ the Hood (John Singleton, 1991). BUT: La Haine’s world is racially mixed and consensual with a clear moral winner, Hubert, who says that ‘y a de bons flics, tu sais, main un bon skin, c’est un skin mort’. The Cité acts as a site of racial integration from below…and note that Hubert loses his self control with the bourgeoisie in the art gallery and not with the police or with the skinheads.

Key issues: How are racial and ethnic identities portrayed in the film? What kinds of male and female identities are portrayed in the film? Is social class an issue in the film? What spaces/places are seen in the film and how are these portrayed?

How are racial and ethnic identities portrayed in the film? Vinz is a key character in this film. Ambivalent location between other minority figures and the privilege of whiteness. A hinge figure for exploring links with French history of the Occupation, and for questioning the idea that ‘intégration’ is centred on culture, not on skin colour.

What kinds of male and female identities are portrayed in the film? Where are the fathers? What are the mothers and daughters doing? Do the young men feel themselves to be ‘real men’?

Is social class an issue in the film? Do we see the bourgeoisie? How do the protaginists react when faced with class difference? Is the film predominantly about class or colour?

What spaces/places are seen in the film and how are these portrayed? Is the banlieue connected with inclusion or exclusion? Is central Paris connected with inclusion or exclusion? Where do the protagonists ‘belong’, where are they ‘at home’?

Key stylistic and structural issues Use of black and white photography Use of the ‘ticking clock motif’ Use of sound track and ‘black’ music Use of speeding up and slowing down: narrative pace The film is structured like a diary: why? What other types of films does La Haine draw on? The use of text and ‘tags’ in the visual background – advertising phrases, graffiti