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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
Page:
Good film, good post. La Haine is one of my favourite movies and has an incredible soundtrack (the scene with DJ Cutkiller cutting together 'Je ne' regret rein' and 'Sound of Da Police' from the high rise building is amazing).
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.
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.
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
Page: