Viard, Karin

La Haine (Criterion Collection)

It's easy to see why La Haine had such an explosive effect when it was released in France; its potent portrait of racial discord and life in the housing projects outside of Paris is at odds with France's egalitarian vision of itself. This impact wouldn't have lasted, however, were the movie purely a political statement; fortunately, it's a riveting journey that follows three unemployed young men (Said Taghmaoui, Hubert Kounde, and Vincent Cassel) as they wander and try to decide what to do with the gun that one of them has found. This simple scenario results in a remarkably complex examination of race, class, violence, and the abuse of power in modern society, yet never feels preachy or forced. Hugely influenced by American directors like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee (particularly Do the Right Thing), La Haine riffs through different styles and techniques, yet the movie feels organic and whole, driven by a genuinely passionate point of view. Dynamic, reckless, sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle (and sometimes both; in one scene, Hubert and Said have been picked up by the police, who torture them for kicks. But watching the abuse is a rookie cop whose face quietly ripples with dismay, helplessness, and resignation), this is a must-see.

As is usual with Criterion releases, the extra features are excellent, including an in-depth but accessible documentary about the housing projects and riots that inspired the film, retrospective material on the making of the movie, behind-the-scenes horseplay, intriguing deleted scenes (with brief but revealing explanations about the deletion from director Mathieu Kassovitz), and a wonderfully articulate introduction by Jodie Foster, who championed the film upon its release and distributed it through her production company. The audio commentary by Kassovitz, who's fluent in English, is circumspect and thoughtful, with flashes of sardonic humor. Kassovitz's directing career has turned decidedly less political (his more recent movies include The Crimson Rivers and Gothika), but his perspective on La Haine and its inspirations remains sharp and lucid. --Bret Fetzer

When he was just twenty-nine years old, Mathieu Kassovitz took the international film world by storm with La haine (Hate), a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically in the low-income banlieue districts on Paris's outskirts. Aimlessly whiling away their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz, Hubert, and Saïd—a Jew, an African, and an Arab—give human faces to France's immigrant populations, their bristling resentments at their social marginalization slowly simmering until they reach a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country's ongoing identity crisis.

Children of the Century

Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel star in Diane Kurys' (Entre Nous) tempestuous love story between two of the 19th century's most headstrong Romanticists, writer George Sand and poet Alfred de Musset. Iconoclastic, proto-feminist writer Sand has usually been depicted onscreen in the context of her decade-long romance with Chopin, but Kurys concentrates upon her earlier more intense two year liaison with de Musset, whose fictionalized version of their affair was entitled "Confessions of a Child of the Century". Their relationship - which takes place in the upper realms of French society in the early 1830s against a backdrop pf great artistic tumult (Hugo, Delacroix, Berlioz, Balzac, Merimee et al.) and social upheaval - became the celebrity coupling of their day. Lavish period production design including the grand costuming of Christian Lacroix (working in film for the first time) and the lush cinematography by Vilko Filac (best known for his work with Emir Kusturica) all contribute to this classic piece of "heritage cinema." Children of the Century was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

Time Out

The mysterious Time Out is a riveting film, despite (because of?) the fact that hardly anything happening in it corresponds to our notion of movie "action." Vincent (Aurélien Recoing, a top French theater actor but cinematic newcomer) is an out-of-work family man living along the Swiss border. He's never told anyone he's lost his job with a U.N. bureau. He leaves home in the morning--when not working out of his (nonexistent) Geneva apartment--and does things like go to an all-glass office tower and hover as if he belonged. Vincent's excellent at seeming to belong; Recoing's performance is an uncanny symphony of collegial tics, benign watchfulness, and shy, tolerant shrugs. Eventually we gather that Vincent is running a swindle, the ease of which seems to quietly horrify him. However, the most unsettling thing about his fictional work posture is that we come to realize it's scarcely less genuine than, or different from, the shell game that is the real thing. --Richard T. Jameson

Vincent is a businessman on the move. Seemingly at the top of his game, Vincent speeds between meetings and conferences ... using his cell phone to share the smallest detail of his professional life with his admiring wife, Muriel. What she doesn't know is that Vincent is leading a double life. He was fired from his job and has constructed an elaborate fantasy of employment that has become his full-time occupation. His fictional new job provides "investment opportunities" for his old friends and even his parents. But the web of lies threatens to choke him when the investors start asking about their money. Vincent must now decide which of his lives is most important.

La Separation

Pierre and Anne have been married for several years. They have slowly started to grow apart. One night after a party, Anne tells Pierre that she is in love with another man. Although her admission is not surprising, Pierre's reaction is. This seemingly commonplace story is told in a modern, sharp, intimate style, allowing two remarkable actors to express a complex range of emotions. Full Filmographies, Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Production Credits, Widescreen Format 1.85:1

La Nouvelle Ève [Region 2]

The New Eve

Camille is having the time of her life, enjoying all that Paris's decadent nightlife has to offer. She parties all night with sexual abandon, then stumbles home at dawn, hungover and ready to do it all over again. But things change when she meets Alexis, a militant political activist. Camille falls madly in love with a man whose life represents everything she detests. She becomes obsessed with Alexis and involves herself in his world. Just when Camille must choose between freedom and love, she finds herself faced with the biggest challenge of all.

A Hell of a Day [Region 2]

Un jeu d'enfants [Region 2]

The Children of the Century [Region 2]

L' Emploi du temps [Region 2]