La Haine (1995)

24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.

Director:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Writer:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Stars:

Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui

Top Rated Movies #230 | 8 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Cassel	...	Vinz
Hubert Koundé	...	Hubert
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Saïd
Abdel Ahmed Ghili	...	Abdel
Solo	...	Santo
Joseph Momo	...	Ordinary Guy
Héloïse Rauth	...	Sarah
Rywka Wajsbrot	...	Vinz's Grandmother
Olga Abrego	...	Vinz's Aunt
Laurent Labasse	...	Cook
Choukri Gabteni	...	Saïd's Brother
Nabil Ben Mhamed	...	Boy Blague
Benoît Magimel	...	Benoît
Médard Niang	...	Médard
Arash Mansour	...	Arash

Storyline

The film follows three young men and their time spent in the French suburban "ghetto," over a span of twenty-four hours. Vinz, a Jew, Saïd, an Arab, and Hubert, a black boxer, have grown up in these French suburbs where high levels of diversity coupled with the racist and oppressive police force have raised tensions to a critical breaking point. During the riots that took place a night before, a police officer lost his handgun in the ensuing madness, only to leave it for Vinz to find. Now, with a newfound means to gain the respect he deserves, Vinz vows to kill a cop if his friend Abdel dies in the hospital, due the beating he received while in police custody.

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Plot Keywords:

police | arab | gun | ghetto | friend | 

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Taglines:

So far, so good

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 February 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

La Haine

Filming Locations:

Chanteloup-les-Vignes, Yvelines, France

Box Office

Budget:

€2,590,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$309,811

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Cofinergie 6, Egg Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene with Vinz in the bathroom looking into the mirror was filmed with two actors mimicking each other. If it was a real mirror we would have seen the camera behind him.

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Goofs

The trip across Paris is strange : the three characters should arrive at the Saint-Lazare station(north-west of Paris), coming from ChanteloupLesVignes. Yet, when they arrive, they are in front of the Montparnasse station(south of Paris), on the Rennes street. Then, they go to Asterix place, on the boulevard Pierre Ier of Serbia, close to Iena Place (west of Paris), and when they try to catch the last train, this time they are at the Saint-Lazare station, the right one to go back. But then, when they are on the roof, they see the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero from the south-east, being probably close to Montparnasse station. Then, they come across a sculpture, L'Ecoute, in the Halles Garden(center of Paris), before going back. Hence, their trip goes : south, west, north-west, south and center of Paris.

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Quotes

Astérix: Sniff of coke?
Saïd: Uh, no, no.
Astérix: You sure?
Saïd: Absolutely.
Astérix: [psychotically, to the others; starts rapidly practicing with nunchaku] A little coke? A little line of coke? Nobody for coke? That's it for coke? How's your brother, how's he doin?
Saïd: He's alright.
Astérix: [still practicing with nunchaku] Mean fuckin bastard. Still a maniac?
Saïd: Are you?
Astérix: [still practicing] Well shit, look! VWA-VWA-VWA-VWA!

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Alternate Versions

In some English language subtitled (mainly American) versions the reference to the character of Said's friend who lives in the "posh towers" is 'Snoopy'. However, the untranslated dialogue says 'Asterix' and the woman who Vinz speaks to on the intercom laughs and says 'No, but his friend Obelix is here', whereas the translated version says 'No, but his friend Charlie Brown is.'. The reason Asterix and Obelix were changed to Snoopy and Charlie Brown in the subtitled version was because a lot of people are more familiar with those characters and possibly wouldn't understand the joke relating to Asterix and Obelix, which are two best friends in various French cartoon books by Goscinny & Uderzo.

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Connections

Featured in Three Kings (1999)

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Soundtracks

Music from 'Les Schtroumpfs'
("The Smurfs")
Written by William Hanna (as W. Hanna), Joseph Barbera (as J. Barbera),
Hoyt Curtin (as H. J. Curtin)
© Peyo Les Schtroumpfs
Courtesy of IMPS Bruxelles

User Reviews

Better and Better

I have seen La Haine a handful of times now and with each viewing it just gets better.

The first thing that stands out about the film is the cinematography. It's rare that a film like this is considered both genuine and a good example of it's art but La Haine is both.

The plotline is compelling and realistic and neatly shows the way that inner city life has gone in the big cities in France as well as proving that despite the romance of Paris, it suffers from the same problems as any other major city.

The characters are above all believable and the cast did a great job. The quality of acting is simply stunning from several actors and it would be a shame if it was simply dismissed as "just another foreign art-house movie" by audiences outside France.

Above all the film whilst showing the influences of American films and society has a very clear sense of it's own identity and at no time does it feel like another US Ghetto film transposed to France. This is a major boon to the film and it stands out of the crowd for this, even though many people will dislike it because of this. It is, however, their loss.

It's hard to recommend this film highly enough, but I should add that more than one viewing is required to get the best from La Haine.