La Haine (Cine-file French Film Guides) - Softcover

Ginette Vincendeau

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184511101X ISBN 13: 9781845111014

Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

The story behind the surprise success of a young crew’s film of alienation and rebellion

 

Released in 1995, La Haine is a raw, edgy drama about three mixed-race young men from a run-down Parisian suburb who decide to take on the police after a friend is brutally beaten. The work of a then unknown young team (director and actors were all under 30), it became hugely and unexpectedly successful both commercially and critically, launching director Mathieu Kassovitz and lead player Vincent Cassel to stardom. The film’s combination of hard-hitting social exposé, stylish black and white cinematography and hip-hop culture also turned it into an enduring cult movie with younger viewers.

With style and insight, Ginette Vincendeau provides a thorough understanding of the context of the film’s making, both in terms of the film industry and of French society, of the film’s narrative tension, stylistic sophistication and ideological ambiguity, and of its extraordinary success nationally and internationally. She explains why, out of so many films about disaffected youth, La Haine is the one that caught the audience’s imagination, becoming an instant classic.

About this title

About the Author:

Ginette Vincendeau is a professor of film studies at the University of Warwick.  She is the author of Melville: “An American in Paris” and Stars and Stardom in French Cinema.  She is the editor of Film/Literature/Heritage: A Sight and Sound Reader.

Review:

 

"Although there have been numerous journal articles and book chapters written about La Haine, Vincendeau's volume is by far the most comprehensive and perceptive to date . . .  Like the film itself, Vincendeau's technical analysis is nothing short of dazzling."--H-France Review  

"A great companion for fans of the 1995 Mathieu Kassovitz film of the same name."--Film Matters

About this edition

• Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 184511101X
• ISBN 13: 9781845111014
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128