What is it about?
This article takes a narratological approach in examining how Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine (1995) establishes itself as an authoritative voice in framing the banlieue. It argues that framing is essential in establishing the film’s narrative authority, the idea that it is recounted from a position of experience. To do so, the film juggles two contradictory narrative impulses: a sense of critical distance which propels the film to its finale; and an emphasis on what Ross Chambers would call loiterliness, as the film tracks the wanderings of its trio of protagonists. By concentrating on three key storytelling sequences—the opening and closing voiceovers, as well as a story told by an elderly Jewish man which will be read self-reflexively—it will be argued that the key means through which the film adopts an insider’s perspective is through its affinity with Hubert, a character often overlooked in writing on the film.
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Why is it important?
The article analyses how Kassovitz as an outsider to the banlieue claims a certain insider status through the trio of principal characters and, in particular, Hubert
Perspectives
The article takes its inspiration from the narrative theory of Ross Chambers in his book Loiterature and adapts Chambers' ideas, which focus largely though not exclusively on literary texts, to the cinema in concentrating on the question of marginality.
Dr Joseph B Hardwick
University of Queensland
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This page is a summary of: Reframing the Periphery: Narrative Authority and Self-Reflexivity in Mathieu Kassovitz’sLa Haine11I gratefully acknowledge the support of Barbara Hanna, Juliana de Nooy, the UQ Arts article development scheme and the Nottingham-Trent University visitin..., Australian Journal of French Studies, May 2015, Liverpool University Press,
DOI: 10.3828/ajfs.2015.11.
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