La Haine and Amelie:

A Film Conversation about French Society

Carlos A. Snchez
UreaIntroduction
I dont recall exactly the year that I saw Amelie for the first time,
it must be after the year 2008 but I was in love with this film specially
the music of Yann Tiersen. I saw the film La Haine this past December 4
2015 and the movie was pretty intense causing an impression
completely different from Amelie. Putting the two movies together
creates what I would call a Ying Yang of views of the French society.
Characters Background History
The two films begin introducing the characters in different ways.
In La Haine we know very little about the main characters. First the film
gives us a story narrated by on of the protagonist but we dont know it
in the beginning. Then the film starts by giving us a documentary
background of the situation of the people living in these projects
outside of Paris. They face police brutality and are in constant war
against the police and their economic situation. After this is that we
get introduce to the main characters. We dont really know their
historical life background except that Hubert was a boxer and their
religion and racial stereotype.
This is very different from Amelie. In this film we know with
luxury of detail the story of Amelie, her family, even the stories of
other people living in Amelies Paris. If we compared this we can see
that Amelie has the resources of documenting her life story. This is not
the case for La Haines characters.
Story Narrative
One important aspect of the film is how the characters are able
to acess some sort of narratives inside their film world that leads them
to their final destination.

In La Haine the protagonist are constantly hearing the same

narration told from different perspectives. The first narration is Hubert
telling the story of a guy falling of a building and saying so far so good,
the second one is Said about one friend telling another how he will do
anything for cash, even kill him, the other friend ask if he would do
that, so the first guy say: No I would kill you for free. The third story
comes from a kid telling Vinz how about this reality show that causes
some violence while recording a guy to see how he will react. The last
narration comes from a little Older Russian guy in a bathroom. This
story is the same classic story of the drowning man that is waiting for
god to save him. But adapted to a more humanistic situation: The guy
couldnt receive the help to be saved because of his own problems with
his pants. The film for last time tells again Hubert narration.
This is what I feel a commentary on the documentary first shown
on the film.
The director shows us how humanity itself is not capable to learn from
the same story that keeps repeating through history. A very truth
commentary that even today in the United States we can see, the
same cycle of Police brutality-Riots.
For Amelie theres a different outcome. To start she even has a
narrator. We see her being aware of her own narration; she consciously
faces her story and is able to change it through the film. She also
receives narrative help from the glass man. This character is constantly
giving her stories to decipher that help her change her destiny. Is
interesting the presence of Renoir in this film and how the glass man
knows him very well. Renoir is mainly known for his critiques to French
society. Amelie receives education through Renoir and is able to
change her destiny and that of the French society. This is so
contrasting to the violent films like Taxi Driver and Cartoons ideals of
La haine characters.
This comparison leads me to the conclusion that narration and
interpretation of narrative is something that only the well-educated
working class or the high aristocrat class can afford. And this people
portray by this films are the one who live in Paris or the ones who runs
the capitalist economy. Amelie with her narrative powers becomes a
heroine that helps other people. She helps a guy remember her
childhood and instantly change his destiny. She helps people in the
caf to get out of their repetitive cycle.
The Camera Narration

The lens also presents a narration in these two films. In La Haine the
film uses a black and white filter that helps showing the tragic and
dense mood of the film while Amelie is shown through a green filter
that can be melancholic and hopeful. Amelie also uses black and white
parts seeing through a T.V. set that shows how her destiny can be a
tragically one.
La Haine Rooftop Sequence
15:08 High Angle of Said going up the ladder to the rooftop, this is a
long shot where the camera tilts and pan to show Said walking in the
rooftop with the other people blur on the back. Then the camera tracks
and centers the three fighting for hot dogs with the hot dog guy. The
camera pans around until Vinz and Hubert left the scene and said is
left alone with the hot dog guy, then the camera pans and track to the
left as Said runs with a stolen hot dog around a gang reunion. Through
this sequence there is no music just ambient sound.
Amelie Reading the Love letters Scene.
1:21:25 The camera tracks from left to right in a high angle view of
amelie reading a letter and fade outs. There is hunting music and the
voice of a narrator.
1:21:36 fade in and the camera tracks in a high angle view from right
to left and fades out. Ambient sound and voice of the narrator
1:21:48 fade in and the camera tracks from up to down in a high angle
shot of amelie reading a letter and fade out. Bell sounds and voice of
narrator.
1:22:10 Fade in to a high angle shot of amelie reading a letter in the
bathroom. The camera goes down a little nit a focus on amelies face.
La haines way of filming the scene is a more active one the amelie. La
Haine can be compare to a graffiti artist that goes to a place and has to
spray his art quick but precise leaving the less cuts possible. This helps
creating the intense mood of this film. In amelie we have more passive
shots and more cuts. The camera use tracking to develop the scene
giving a sense of completion and dimentional knowledge when it has
cover every direction. This helps understand that an Idea is formed in
amelie after reading the letters. In La Haine we dont know who is
telling the story and the camera dont clarify this while in Amelie the
camera helps to express the protagonist story even to the point she is
conciusly able to manipulate the camera to explain her plan. (Scene
where she is constructing the love letter)
Outside/Inside of Paris

The morality in these films is something very important. In the

movie The Rules of the Game by Renoir, morality is something that the
high class made up and they can bend it. In Amelie morality is
something that the middle class worker has to watched that is
implemented or establish it for their own. In La Haine, morality doesnt
exist for the low class people of Paris.
For Amelie, Paris is a magical place with color, music, stories,
interesting people and hope. It has problems but they have solutions
that depend on the individual to affect the whole. For La Haine French
society and the whole world is falling down thinking that everything is
ok. Low class people cannot make it into Paris and they dont have any
solutions to their problems. In both movies Paris is shown as the place
where dreams come true but this only work for amelie.
Is Ironic how the director of La Haine from being a Parisian skinhead in
his movie is directed by Amelie to find love in Paris. These two movies
show the two of the main perspectives of French society and of the
whole world society.