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I'm back now after a spell of absence which saw my hard disk wiped, windows XP installed and an obscene amount of a-level homework. But this set me off on the idea of doing a pretty basic guide to French cinema.
Now I don't pretend to be an expert on French cinema, I just happen to be doing A-level French which means I've seen more French films than most, and my rudimentary knowledge might prove of some use to those out there who have not yet experienced some of the moder-day gems that have come out of France.
I am going to start with my favourite film of the past few years, La Haine, and then pass through some other cinematic classics when I have the time, hopefully the 3 colours series, city of the lost children, the delicatessen and, if it ever gets released near me, Amelie. But for now La Haine should suffice.
The first thing I would like to say to all of you who dropped French/hate French/can't speak French is that it doesn't matter. I can assure you that the French put up with badly subtitled English films so I am sure that we can return the favour. One time when I was over there I had the misfortune of seeing Armageddon but the memory endures of the subtitles translating 'hmm that Asteroid is a million miles away' with an exact figure in kilometres, including a decimal point. Fortunately the english subtitles aren't that bad, but you do miss some things without a good knowledge of French. The second thing to remember is that film is a pretty universal language anyway and I can guarantee that very very few English/American films have come close to La Haine in recent years. It is a film that transcends language.
La Haine translates as 'Hate' and that is the over-riding and underlying theme in the film. Mathieu Kassovitz wrote and directed this film, which charts the events following a riot in the parisian ghettos. The three central characters are Vinz, a jew, Said, an arab and Hubert, a black. They form a gang that is neither accepted, nor accepts others and Kassovitz follows them through 24 hours. Interestingly each character is named after the actor who plays him, which is one of the many features that makes this film unnervingly realistic. In fact it was so realistic that the French cabinet commissioned a special screening of the film to see what they were up against on the Parisian streets.
Maybe the film can appear like a documentary, but its subtle camerawork sets it apart. There are many techniques employed in this film that you just will not see if you stick to American cinema. Kassovitz uses subtle camera tricks, such as the transition from soft focus to gritty lenses when the three leave the relative warmth of Paris for the outskirts, or the clever use of wide angle lenses. This is not the MTV-schlock of that loathsome film Traffic. Unless you look out for these things (I had the benefit of a study guide as I am writing a coursework essay on it) you will not see them. And that is the way it is supposed to be because you are made to see a transition but not know why; you are able to distinguish between locations and events, without having to endure Steven Soderbergh's 'hey look at me aren't I clever' style of camerawork. It is no wonder that the film won Kassovitz best director at Cannes.
Camerawork aside, you cannot ignore the powerful plot of this film. There is a constant use of time to reinforce the pace of the film. Eventually you come to realise that the ticking of the clock is not so much a timer as a time bomb. At the start of the film you see a man falling to earth saying 'jusqu'ici tout va bien' (so far so good) and repeating it incessantly, his idea is that not the fall that's important, but the landing. Kassovitz shows the firey plummet of the French youth into crime, boredom and hatred, but he observes that's it has begun and so now the only course of action is to make sure that the landing is soft.
We follow our three antiheros through the streets of Paris and at each point where they try and integrate they are rejected, by their peers, by the staff at the hospital, at the police station, at an art gallery and at a drug-dealers. They cannot fit in anywhere. This issue is complicated by the severe injury of one of their friends by a policeman in the riots. He is in hospital and Vinz swears that if he dies he is going to kill a cop. Normally that would be quite hard but the word on the street is that a policeman lost his gun in the riots... and Vinz is the one who has found it. Despite his belief that this invests him with previously undiscovered power, it really serves no purpose and Vinz gains no respect. He is constantly portrayed as a hothead who is mostly talk and not a lot of action, his friend Hubert is a boxer who seems capable of violence but is too much of a pacifist to ever do anything, Said is very talkative and often acts as a mediator between the two.
Kassovitz does not make cheap value judgements in this film; it is not pro-youth and it is not anti-authority. It provides what is an objective perspective of the problems that are mounting in France, if not the world. This is the reason for it being shot in black and white throughout. Kassovitz does not seek to colour the film with his own biases. Hate is both over-riding and underlying as I asaid at the beginning. The police are full of hate, the youth are full of hate and society is full of hate, making the constant advertisments telling the youth that the world is theirs even more ironic.
La Haine is full of jarring images and bizarre scenes, particularly the cow scene (if anyone wants to explain that one then feel free (Goatboy?) I'm still not sure. It's probably the most accessible of the French films that I've seen and caters perfectly for the 'Pulp Fiction' generation (which it beats hands down in my opinion). So if you're looking for some challenging, but rewarding, viewing this christmas you can't go far wrong with La Haine. It might be available at your local blockbuster, Borders the bookshop certainly have copies, and failing that kick up a fuss about it.
Buy La Haine and you won't be disappointed, trust me on that one... I wasn't.
Monsieur de bonheur
Now I don't pretend to be an expert on French cinema, I just happen to be doing A-level French which means I've seen more French films than most, and my rudimentary knowledge might prove of some use to those out there who have not yet experienced some of the moder-day gems that have come out of France.
I am going to start with my favourite film of the past few years, La Haine, and then pass through some other cinematic classics when I have the time, hopefully the 3 colours series, city of the lost children, the delicatessen and, if it ever gets released near me, Amelie. But for now La Haine should suffice.
The first thing I would like to say to all of you who dropped French/hate French/can't speak French is that it doesn't matter. I can assure you that the French put up with badly subtitled English films so I am sure that we can return the favour. One time when I was over there I had the misfortune of seeing Armageddon but the memory endures of the subtitles translating 'hmm that Asteroid is a million miles away' with an exact figure in kilometres, including a decimal point. Fortunately the english subtitles aren't that bad, but you do miss some things without a good knowledge of French. The second thing to remember is that film is a pretty universal language anyway and I can guarantee that very very few English/American films have come close to La Haine in recent years. It is a film that transcends language.
La Haine translates as 'Hate' and that is the over-riding and underlying theme in the film. Mathieu Kassovitz wrote and directed this film, which charts the events following a riot in the parisian ghettos. The three central characters are Vinz, a jew, Said, an arab and Hubert, a black. They form a gang that is neither accepted, nor accepts others and Kassovitz follows them through 24 hours. Interestingly each character is named after the actor who plays him, which is one of the many features that makes this film unnervingly realistic. In fact it was so realistic that the French cabinet commissioned a special screening of the film to see what they were up against on the Parisian streets.
Maybe the film can appear like a documentary, but its subtle camerawork sets it apart. There are many techniques employed in this film that you just will not see if you stick to American cinema. Kassovitz uses subtle camera tricks, such as the transition from soft focus to gritty lenses when the three leave the relative warmth of Paris for the outskirts, or the clever use of wide angle lenses. This is not the MTV-schlock of that loathsome film Traffic. Unless you look out for these things (I had the benefit of a study guide as I am writing a coursework essay on it) you will not see them. And that is the way it is supposed to be because you are made to see a transition but not know why; you are able to distinguish between locations and events, without having to endure Steven Soderbergh's 'hey look at me aren't I clever' style of camerawork. It is no wonder that the film won Kassovitz best director at Cannes.
Camerawork aside, you cannot ignore the powerful plot of this film. There is a constant use of time to reinforce the pace of the film. Eventually you come to realise that the ticking of the clock is not so much a timer as a time bomb. At the start of the film you see a man falling to earth saying 'jusqu'ici tout va bien' (so far so good) and repeating it incessantly, his idea is that not the fall that's important, but the landing. Kassovitz shows the firey plummet of the French youth into crime, boredom and hatred, but he observes that's it has begun and so now the only course of action is to make sure that the landing is soft.
We follow our three antiheros through the streets of Paris and at each point where they try and integrate they are rejected, by their peers, by the staff at the hospital, at the police station, at an art gallery and at a drug-dealers. They cannot fit in anywhere. This issue is complicated by the severe injury of one of their friends by a policeman in the riots. He is in hospital and Vinz swears that if he dies he is going to kill a cop. Normally that would be quite hard but the word on the street is that a policeman lost his gun in the riots... and Vinz is the one who has found it. Despite his belief that this invests him with previously undiscovered power, it really serves no purpose and Vinz gains no respect. He is constantly portrayed as a hothead who is mostly talk and not a lot of action, his friend Hubert is a boxer who seems capable of violence but is too much of a pacifist to ever do anything, Said is very talkative and often acts as a mediator between the two.
Kassovitz does not make cheap value judgements in this film; it is not pro-youth and it is not anti-authority. It provides what is an objective perspective of the problems that are mounting in France, if not the world. This is the reason for it being shot in black and white throughout. Kassovitz does not seek to colour the film with his own biases. Hate is both over-riding and underlying as I asaid at the beginning. The police are full of hate, the youth are full of hate and society is full of hate, making the constant advertisments telling the youth that the world is theirs even more ironic.
La Haine is full of jarring images and bizarre scenes, particularly the cow scene (if anyone wants to explain that one then feel free (Goatboy?) I'm still not sure. It's probably the most accessible of the French films that I've seen and caters perfectly for the 'Pulp Fiction' generation (which it beats hands down in my opinion). So if you're looking for some challenging, but rewarding, viewing this christmas you can't go far wrong with La Haine. It might be available at your local blockbuster, Borders the bookshop certainly have copies, and failing that kick up a fuss about it.
Buy La Haine and you won't be disappointed, trust me on that one... I wasn't.
Monsieur de bonheur
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misterhappy wrote:
> There are other things you miss like the
> 'verlan' spoken between the three, verlan is where they take words and invert
> them, verlan itself comes from "l'envers" meaning backwards.
My girlfriend is from Paris and she was trying to explain this to me.. its Parisian street talk, slang even .. Having only just grasped the basics of French it will be a while before I pick this up though...
> There are other things you miss like the
> 'verlan' spoken between the three, verlan is where they take words and invert
> them, verlan itself comes from "l'envers" meaning backwards.
My girlfriend is from Paris and she was trying to explain this to me.. its Parisian street talk, slang even .. Having only just grasped the basics of French it will be a while before I pick this up though...
Magnolia rocks. Just not as much as the 3 colours series. I suppose they are still very different films though. In some ways Magnolia is much more watchable, as it combines humour, seriousness and emotion. There's some great acting, particularly William H. Macy, who is a genius. And the frog ending does make sense. I continually try and justify this film to my friends but they say it's a pointless film and won't budge an inch.
Magnolia is destined to be the perennial marmite of the film industry. You either love it or you hate it. I am on the love side but I don't like marmite.
Magnolia is destined to be the perennial marmite of the film industry. You either love it or you hate it. I am on the love side but I don't like marmite.
Only French film i've seen is Nikita, which was actually damn good.
Thanks for your thoughts on the 3 Colours film. I think Red is actually my favourite but I thought the ending was slightly contrived, they didn't really interconnect so much as meet on one fateful ocassion. I am one of the few people that loved the ending of Magnolia and thought the frogs thing made perfect sense. Maybe not a very sensible sense, maybe not the interpretation the makers intended, but it felt right to me.
Wow, there's a small clique of Francophiles in the DVD posting forums...
La haine's soundtrack is good but the reason so many people remember that one bit with the Edith Piaf song mixed with the rap is because that is the only time in the film, apart from the Marley at the start and the breakdancing in the middle, that you hear any music. I think the places where it economises on music and visual substance are more than made up for by the times when you do encounter them. The guy mixing at the top of the apartment block is good stuff, I wonder when Tarantino will nab the idea... I'm not overly impressed with the subtitling, it's way too Americanised, Snoopy is actaully Asterix and 'Walmart' is 'Carrefour' or something like that. There are other things you miss like the 'verlan' spoken between the three, verlan is where they take words and invert them, verlan itself comes from "l'envers" meaning backwards. They may only be small things but they add to the film. The BBC actually retitled it when they showed it on british TV. Unfortunately the DVD, distributed by Tartan Videos, only has the American subtitles. I love the story about the 'La Haine' designer chic... it would go down a storm in a Paris...
The 3 colours films are much more obscure than La haine and they do count as French films, despite the fantastically named Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, and general polishness. They are in French and featue French actors and actrices. But if anyone still wants to argue I will happy expand to a guide on European cinema, that way I can include Amores Perros... 3 Colours Blue is Liberté, as Juliette Binoche finds some semblance of this by the end of the film, having come to terms with her husband's death. White is Egalité, which actaully takes place in more than one way, obviously there is the racial equality issue, but some people think it looks at gender equality too. I think it even iterprets equality more literally in the sense that the Polish hairdresser wants to get even with his former wife. Finally Three Colours Red focuses on franternité, mainly in the realtionships between human beings. Ultimately White is the most accessible of the films, as it is genuinely funny, Blue can be laboured to watch, and Red has enough pace to kep it going. I like all three, but many people tend to dislike the first and last film for being too arty and obscure. Still, the final act of Red is to bring the three films together, and show that everything is interconnected. It does this much more effectively Magnolia, which is nonetheless hailed as part of the 'cinematic renaissance' (by my film obsessed English teacher).
Anyway I hope I get some people to watch La Haine with this thread... and if anyone can explain the significance of the cow I would be much obliged.
La haine's soundtrack is good but the reason so many people remember that one bit with the Edith Piaf song mixed with the rap is because that is the only time in the film, apart from the Marley at the start and the breakdancing in the middle, that you hear any music. I think the places where it economises on music and visual substance are more than made up for by the times when you do encounter them. The guy mixing at the top of the apartment block is good stuff, I wonder when Tarantino will nab the idea... I'm not overly impressed with the subtitling, it's way too Americanised, Snoopy is actaully Asterix and 'Walmart' is 'Carrefour' or something like that. There are other things you miss like the 'verlan' spoken between the three, verlan is where they take words and invert them, verlan itself comes from "l'envers" meaning backwards. They may only be small things but they add to the film. The BBC actually retitled it when they showed it on british TV. Unfortunately the DVD, distributed by Tartan Videos, only has the American subtitles. I love the story about the 'La Haine' designer chic... it would go down a storm in a Paris...
The 3 colours films are much more obscure than La haine and they do count as French films, despite the fantastically named Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, and general polishness. They are in French and featue French actors and actrices. But if anyone still wants to argue I will happy expand to a guide on European cinema, that way I can include Amores Perros... 3 Colours Blue is Liberté, as Juliette Binoche finds some semblance of this by the end of the film, having come to terms with her husband's death. White is Egalité, which actaully takes place in more than one way, obviously there is the racial equality issue, but some people think it looks at gender equality too. I think it even iterprets equality more literally in the sense that the Polish hairdresser wants to get even with his former wife. Finally Three Colours Red focuses on franternité, mainly in the realtionships between human beings. Ultimately White is the most accessible of the films, as it is genuinely funny, Blue can be laboured to watch, and Red has enough pace to kep it going. I like all three, but many people tend to dislike the first and last film for being too arty and obscure. Still, the final act of Red is to bring the three films together, and show that everything is interconnected. It does this much more effectively Magnolia, which is nonetheless hailed as part of the 'cinematic renaissance' (by my film obsessed English teacher).
Anyway I hope I get some people to watch La Haine with this thread... and if anyone can explain the significance of the cow I would be much obliged.
loki wrote:
I'd say the most accessible french film is Taxi though, just easy to watch
> car chases and stunts - not really what you'd expect from a french language film
> but good fun none the less.
Cool. Its been sat by my video for a week now and I finally have a chance to see it tonight.
I'd say the most accessible french film is Taxi though, just easy to watch
> car chases and stunts - not really what you'd expect from a french language film
> but good fun none the less.
Cool. Its been sat by my video for a week now and I finally have a chance to see it tonight.
*amusing postscript to La Haine*
I managed to get the limited edition video-set a few years back that came with a t-shirt.
White, with the cover of the dudes eyes in a narrow strip across the chest with
LA HAINE
Underneath in black font.
And my mum thought it was one of her t-shirts and appropriated it.
I had no idea where my t-shirt went, until one day I bump into her round town and she's strolling along with "HATE" emblazoned on a t-shirt.
I laughed like a mentalist and didn't tell her.
To this day, she thinks her snazzy t-shirt is some french designer thing.
Excellent.
I managed to get the limited edition video-set a few years back that came with a t-shirt.
White, with the cover of the dudes eyes in a narrow strip across the chest with
LA HAINE
Underneath in black font.
And my mum thought it was one of her t-shirts and appropriated it.
I had no idea where my t-shirt went, until one day I bump into her round town and she's strolling along with "HATE" emblazoned on a t-shirt.
I laughed like a mentalist and didn't tell her.
To this day, she thinks her snazzy t-shirt is some french designer thing.
Excellent.
Amazing film.
Like Loki, the bit that stays with me is when you float through the ghetto and the rap mixed with classical french song being mixed together.
And Snoopy.
And the final shot.
Tremendous film.
Like Loki, the bit that stays with me is when you float through the ghetto and the rap mixed with classical french song being mixed together.
And Snoopy.
And the final shot.
Tremendous film.
By the way, I loved the 3 Colours movies (wasn't Keislowski [sp?] Polish though) but some of the themes went over my head a bit (the Liberty, Fraternity, Equality thing). Did you get how each movie corresponded to one of the themes?
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