“La Haine” is considered a cult film, but one scene remains in everyone’s memory: that of Vincent Cassel looking at himself in the mirror like De Niro in “Taxi Driver”. But the scene is not done the way you think!
La Haine will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its release next year! Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, this drama features Vinz, Hubert and Saïd, three young people marked by the coma of a resident of their neighborhood following a blunder caused during police custody. The viewer will follow them for 24 hours, the day after a night of riots.
The pact
Vinz, Said and Hubert
Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui play the three main roles, but we can see in supporting roles or even very small roles Benoît Magimel, Edouard Montoute, François Levantal, Karin Viard, Philippe Nahon, Zinedine Soualem or Vincent Lindon.
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The appearance of Vincent Lindon
And among the film’s many cult sequences, one is particularly remembered, also because it is inspired by a similar scene from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. It takes place at the beginning of the film: Vinz looks at himself in the mirror, pointing his fingers forming a revolver on the window, declaring “Is that me you’re talking to?”
But this moment was filmed in a surprising way. In reality, Vincent Cassel is not facing a mirror but facing a hole in the wall! And it is a stunt double who mimes his actions at the beginning of the scene!
A very clever trick which allows, without special effects, to film Vinz from the front without any of the reflections that a real mirror would have imposed.
The pact
Said Taghmaoui
The dramatic context in which La Haine takes place is inspired by the death of Makomé M’Bowolé, a 17-year-old boy, who occurred in 1993 in a police station. The police inspector responsible was sentenced to eight years in prison for willful violence causing death without the intention of causing it.
