French Actor and Director Mathieu Kassovitz
The Multi-Talented Star Who Connects French Films Amelie & La Haine
Oct 5, 2009
Mathieu Kassovitz made his name as the director of the 1995 French film La Haine, the hard-hitting story of inner-city violence, police brutality and simmering racial tensions on a rundown Parisian housing estate. La Haine was the film that gave actor Vincent Cassel his first taste of fame and success, and Kassovitz himself also featured in the movie, in a small role as a skinhead.
From La Haine to Amelie
Kassovitz can clearly do that whole tough guy thing. Having written and directed La Haine, his understanding of the difficulties of life on the streets is clear to see. The decaying urban sprawl of La Haine is a million miles away from the fairy tale Paris of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie. As a director, he could have carried on making films that exploit the dirty underbelly of Parisian society, playing on the success of La Haine. But what’s really interesting about Kassovitz is that he hasn’t allowed himself to be pigeon-holed by his celebrated black and white directorial masterpiece. He has gone on to write, produce and direct an entertaining array of different films, and also appeared as an actor in countless different features. Of all of these, it is Amelie that provided Kassovitz with his best and most memorable role. As the love interest in that film, Nino Quincampoix, Kassovitz makes the perfect yin to Audrey Tautou’s yang as Amelie. He’s enigmatic, a little bit kooky, and was gifted with the most romantic scene ever committed to celluloid - when Amelie rides his ghost train and he makes her shiver with a gentle touch.
Mathieu Kassovitz’s Work as an Actor
There is mystery surrounding Mathieu Kassovitz, in the very best sense of the word. He doesn’t seem hell-bent on creating a distinctive ouvre of work, but jumps around from project to project, continually defying expectations. He’s worked with his father, the film director Peter Kassovitz, most notably on Jakob The Liar, starring Robin Williams. He’s acted in the underrated British film Birthday Girl alongside Nicole Kidman and his old friend Vincent Cassel, and he’s also starred in Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed film Munich. Interestingly, the latter, which examines the aftermath of terrorism at the 1972 Munich Olympics, shares the same acute philosophy La Haine hammered home, which is that violence just begets violence.
Mathieu Kassovitz Work as a Director
As a director, Kassovitz has delivered a mixed bag. After La Haine, He made a feature film called Assassin that was based on a previous short he’d made called Assassins. The extra 'S' had to dropped from his adaptation due to a clash of titles with the Sylvester Stallone/Antonio Banderas film Assassins that came out in between. After that he made The Crimson River (Les rivieres pourpres) with Vincent Cassel and Jean Reno. Then Kassovitz began making tentative in-roads to Hollywood with the poorly received horror Gothika, starring Halle Berry, and the over-blown Vin Diesel action flick Babylon AD, which he disowned. Reports suggest studio meddling had taken their toll on Kassovitz, so small wonder he soon returned back home to France.
Future Film Projects for Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz is currently working as writer/director/producer and actor on a new feature film called L’ordre et la morale (The Order and the Morals). Wearing that many different hats should surely offer him a little more control over the story, which is based on a true operation carried out by the French special forces to free 23 police who had been taken hostage. He’s also attached to a slated film called Dust Motion, about which little is known although there is a weird little teaser trailer for it posted on You Tube. One thing’s for sure, whatever that man Kassovitz gets involved with, it’s sure to be worth taking an interest in.
Further Reading: A review of Amelie, starring Mathieu Kassovitz and Audrey Tautou.
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