La Haine: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: For Everyone?

It is arguable that Kassovitz’s ‘La Haine’ attempts to present the lack of equality within the banlieue through the lack of women presented within the film, the film is dominated by men, often talking about them within a very sexualised manner. This is present within the rooftop barbecue scene in which one character replies to Saïd telling him that he’ll pay with “How? With your sister?”. This explicit sexualisation of females connotes how the banlieue is portrayed as very much a “testosterone-filled world” (Vincendeau, 2000, p. 314) where the men are presented to portray a very toxic masculinity, they all need to prove that they are the alpha male of their group. Through this overtly sexual discussion of women, the film arguably portrays another level of inequality within the already highly unequal society of France within the 1990s. Furthermore, the fact that the youths treat the rooftop as the only real dedicated social space symbolises how destitute these people's lives are, when their only meeting space is on the top of an abandoned building which they shouldn’t even be on, as the police come and attempt to push them away. However, due to the meeting space of the rooftop, it could be argued that this presents the youths as having a unique kind of fraternity and area to themselves; they may have a lack of opportunity for a real future, however, they bond over it and it’s important that they have somewhere to at least socialize safely, it’s essentially the only form of escapism that the characters have. Therefore, it makes it significant when the plainclothes officers attempt to force them off the roof, the youths view it as almost a primal, primitive stealing of their territory, which the youths see as a “prized vantage point” (Forbes, 2000, p. 175).

It could be argued that the inequality of women is further reinforced by the fact that there are very few women throughout the film at all, and that the only women that appear on screen are acting obtrusive to the protagonists (such as the woman attempting to interview the characters) or in maternal/family roles (such as Vinz’s grandmother telling him he needs to visit the synagogue). The passivity and negative representation of women within the film could be done due to the audience simply viewing the entire film from the point of view of the 3 protagonists, who are in essence just teenagers that are angry at the state of the world for the lack of opportunities that it’s offered to them due to factors that are totally out of their control. In conclusion, it appears evident to state that Kassovitz’s La Haine represents the lack of equality within the banlieue through the lack of women throughout the film, however when they are shown on screen, they take roles which are less impactful upon the narrative.

 References:

Vincendeau, G. (2000). Designs on the Banlieue: Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine. In S. Hayward & G. Vincendeau (Eds.) French Film: Texts and Contexts (2nd ed., pp. 310-324). London: Routledge

Forbes, J. (2000). La haine. In J. Forbes & S. Street (Eds.), European Cinema: An Introduction (pp. 171-179) Hampshire: PALGRAVE