Gender Construction in La Haine and Une Femme est une Femme
French 138 – Allan Stoekl
Alex Jenkins
A question that pervades contemporary literature and art alike is that of the relationship between the language of literature and art and gender. Certain feminists claim that language and literature are male by nature, and certain others see this as the sort of claim that leads to an overly politically correct world, or one in which political correctness hinders elegance, as in the classic example of �s/he.� An interesting method to discuss this, and other questions art as a gendered medium raises, through French film is a comparative study of Jean-Luc Godard�s 1961 film, Une Femme est une Femme, and Mathieu Kassovitz�s 1995 La Haine. While the Godard film calls attention to the fact that it discusses gender, and the Kassovitz does not, an investigation of either that omitted the question would be flawed. The clearest way of going about this investigation seems to be a look at both films individually, through their stylistic and thematic elements, and then to compare to see what can be gained from juxtaposing the two.
Though Une Femme est une Femme came out before La Haine, La Haine provides a much more straightforward critical reading of its relationship between the nature of the language of film and gender. As Ginette Vincendeau notes in the article, �Designs on the BANLIEUE: Mathieu Kassovitz�s La Haine (1995),� �� as Mongin (1995) points out, male aggression is�affirmed by the sheer rhythm and pitch of the boys� hysterical verbal flow, especially Sa�d�s.� This is a shrewd statement, as it provides the first major theme through which maleness can be seen in the film, and it is indeed the fore fronted music and speech. The sound was so memorable because the cinematography was so idyllic that one could get lost in the film. Kassovitz comments on this, that �The aim was to make the cit� beautiful�there are moments when it�s all too much, almost complacent, like a music video.� And indeed, in a music video or a film like this, the image serves as a spectacle, and the �verbal flow� serves as the primary focus. If the director of this type of film cannot achieve such an effect, the images tend to be degraded as �distracting.� This notion, of course, will become increasingly important with a discussion of the Godard film.
But at any rate, how can sound be male? Perhaps this argument is too vague. Certainly the effect of the speech is an air of aggression, but must this be male? Vincendeau would defend this by adding such examples as, �It is hardly worth pointing out the male symbolism of the gun, the fetish object lost by the police and stolen by Vinz.� Beyond the pure phallic nature of the gun, in a marginal society such as that of the banlieue, guns bring power against authority as well as a simple means to assert masculinity. However, does a focus on maleness necessarily lead to sexism? Vincendeau would defer to the view of the director himself of the film: �Kassovitz tellingly justifies the absence of women in La Haine as a desire �to keep the idea [of the film] as pure as possible� (Humanite � Dimanche 1995). But beyond this banal sexism, however, La Haine is symptomatic of a deeper gender shift. Family and culture are kept mostly off-screen, but what we see of them is female�� Perhaps Kassovitz was caught at an odd moment to deliver such a quote, but who could argue that race and class divisions have nothing to do with gender? All the men shown treated women as second-class citizens who needed to be protected �Don�t be talking about my sister etc.,� but that doesn�t mean that this is acceptable. Just because Jews, Arabs, and African immigrants treat women the same way doesn�t mean that it�s acceptable. What Kassovitz neglects to notice here is that calling a male dominated film more �pure� than one with both genders makes him sound like a chauvanist.
However, Vincendeau does give Kassovitz some credit��At the core of La Haine is a dual, and sometimes contradictory appeal to authenticity and to youth culture. Black-and-white film stock, location shooting, slang dialogue�signal a desire to be true to an observable situation.� This is true. These techniques certainly signal a desire to be true. But are they, or is this desire misleading and unfulfilled? What Kassovitz calls the �complacent� nature of the film detracts from this. It seems that Vincendeau would say that La Haine is a worthwhile representation of the banlieue, but misses several key points, one of them being gender inequality. Violence is not necessarily an aspect of the banlieu; it is an aspect of maleness that often takes shape in the banlieu.
Alan Williams offers a critical reading of Godard�s Une Femme est une Femme in his book, Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking. However, this reading is somewhat problematic, at least with regard to the nature of the film itself. Quite accurately, Williams refers to Godard in the following passage:
�At least not until the late 1960s, Godard does not seem to criticize traditional cinema so much as to assume that its time has passed. He made Une Femme est Une Femme not as a critique of the musical comedy, but as kind of an autopsy: � the music is dead, � he said bluntly; his film � is nostalgia for the musical.�
Sadly, what Mr. Williams neglects to mention is that the next line is, ��as Le Petit Soldat was nostalgia for the Spanish Civil War.� The film carries elements of a Hollywood musical undoubtedly, but the point seems less to create a nostalgic view than to expose the elaborate hiding of truth that went on in such films. For example, the film begins with the sound of an orchestra warming up, and then there is a voice over of �lights, camera, and action!� Throughout the film, such meta-cinematic moments appear. For example, at night, Angela picks up her lamp and carries it over to the bookshelf so that she can look at her books, exposing the overly naturalistic elements in the Hollywood style. Then film also takes note of the silent film style of writing plot messages across the screen. These plot messages, however, become overwhelmingly honest in the film, for example, �Angela allows herself to be trapped because she loves [Emile]� and [it�s because they love each other that things will go so wrong for Emile and Angela.]
Godard, as all fans well know, is highly concerned with theory, and fitting it into his films. Alfred asks Emile at one point, �is this a comedy or a tragedy?� Emile replies, �with women you never know.� This is based on what Godard originally conceieved the film to be: �The overall conception of the film came from something Chaplin said; that tragedy is life in close-up, and comedy, life in long shot. I said to myself, I�m going to make a comedy in close-up: the film will be tragic-comic.� Further, one character says at one point, �make up your minds, I�d hate to miss BREATHLESS�it�s on TV.� This refers to a cutting remark Godard made about Une Femme est Une Femme��Like Jules et Jim for Truffaut, [La Femme est une Femme] is my first real film.� This implies that Breathless was not a real film, something Godard takes quite seriously.
At any rate, the main character Angela is portrayed in a rather typical Hollywood representation of women, and it is taken to such an extreme that the viewer is meant to notice that this is not really how women are. Just on a plot level, Angela is constantly busy, works as a low-grade stripper, and is desperate for a baby. There are several references to the inability of men and women to communicate. For example, Emile speaks while brushing his teeth, saying such helpful things as, �I think (brush brush) do you agree?� Angela quickly grows frustrated with this, but when she does the same to Emile, he gets frustrated and walks away. They also have competitions for some kind of literate knowledge�at night, they pick up books and create phrases out of the titles. One such phrase was �All the Women (To The Stake).� Another gender issue called attention to is the problem with expecting women to cook and work at the same time. This can be seen in the quite satirical scene in which Angela flips an omelet, goes out in the hall to answer the phone, and comes back a few minutes later to catch it again. Of course, she is able to, as this is a Godard film, but you get the idea. The whole film is a metaphor for a circus. When Emile asks Angela if she will pick him or Alfred (to impregnate her) she says �whoever does the most extraordinary tricks.� Then there is a scene in which both men indeed perform extraordinary tricks. This refusal to abide by normal film tactics while sticking to a typical Hollywood representation of the film is, in itself, the brilliance of the film�s take on gender. If not even the lighting in films is natural, then how on earth can the representation of women be?
While it seems Une Femme est une Femme is then, the better film than La Haine, it seems unwise to write off La Haine as unimportant. What it is, is the polar opposite of Une Femme est une Femme. Godard is self-aware; Kassovitz is not. Godard realizes the importance of gender in a film; Kassovitz does not. Kassovitz�s film discusses �typical� males�bored, violent, and black and white. Godard�s film discusses a �typical� female�busy, nervous, and colorful. As Emile says to Angela at the end of the film, �Angela, you�re without shame.� She smiles, and replies, �No, I�m a DAME.� The Godard film is, ultimately, a positive representation of a woman, while the Kassovitz is a fatalistic and depressing view of the male.
Works Cited
Williams, Alan. Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1992.
Milne, Tom. Godard on Godard. Da Capo Press, New York. 1968.
Vincendeau, Ginette. �Designs on the BANLIEUE: Mathieu Kassovitz�s La Haine.�
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