Contextual Research & Inspiration p1 - La Haine mirror scene and Unsane

We were tasked with directing and producing a short film inspired by our chosen painting. In my case this was 'La Reproduction Interdite', by Rene Magritte. The focal point of the painting I picked out was the mirror; as it shows the incorrect reflection of the figure looking away from itself. This mirror concept alone has some links to other films.

La Haine

I researched the French movie 'La Haine' (translation: 'hatred') (a 1995 film written by Mathieu Kassovitz and produced by Christophe Rossignon) as the film has some strong links to this painting, especially due to identity.The film follows three immigrant friends from different cultures, Vinz, Sayid and Hubert and their lives in a suburb outside of Paris in the 90s. The name comes from a line spoken by Hubert; 'La haine attire la haine'; hate breeds hate.

Throughout the film there are strong themes of violence, racial stereotyping, police brutality and the youth that make the film known and iconic, however my main motivation to watch this film and research it for this particular project is due to the mirror scene I was shown by a friend. He showed me the clip of Vinz in front of the mirror, and told me how it reminds him of the sort of scenes I was planning to shoot for my film, which was initially an idea I came up with not inspired by any other films. This scene, although meaningless at first, is rather poignant and relates to the overall plot of the film as Vinz makes it his mission to kill a 'pig' - one of the French police officers.

On IMDb (where I got the image of the film cover from) there was a fact in the trivia section that very much explains the type of cinematography and shots I was trying to replicate. An anonymous user wrote: 'The scene with Vinz in the bathroom looking into the mirror was filmed with two actors mimicking each other. If it was a real mirror we would have seen the camera behind him.'

This clever trick using the mirror shows that there is a second actor playing Vinz as the camera zooms in on it. In the film the cinematography is done in a very impressive way as there is an illusion of a reflection of Vinz in the mirror.

In my project as the focal point of both 'La Reproduction Interdite' as well as the film narrative I created inspired by it was going to use a similar trick (the character played by me is looking to a mirror to see a character played by Natasha). The final scene that I filmed uses a filming trick rather similar to this one, except it was a lot easier as I didn't have to find two identical actors - as Natasha in the film looks into the reflection and sees me from another dimension. The message of the scene is one of revenge and hatred; Vinz wants to kill a police officer for the police brutality towards Abdel.

The film is also based on a true story about the shooting of Makome M’Bowole in 1993, a Zairian. He was shot accidentally when a police officer was angered by his words and taunted him with a gun, which is a parallel to the way the movie ends; Vinz dies in the same way.

I think the strongest link between the mirrors in the film and the painting is the negative portrayal of identity. In the painting where he looks into the mirror, the reflection is turned away. However when Vinz looks to the mirror he mimics a gun and points it at himself. The underlying theme is linked with how one sees oneself. Vinz is an immigrant Jew, and he is treated differently because of it, and presumably he wants to kill that vulnerable side to him. Similar the figure in the painting seems to be so ashamed of himself the reflection completely turns away and disregards him.

Notes I took of key moments from this film:

Unsane

Unsane, a psychological horror film directed by Steven Soderburgh and written by Jonathan Bernstein & James Greer in 2018, is a film I wanted to research also because of the way it was filmed. It was famous for being filmed purely on iPhone 7 Plus cameras, instead of most of the usual equipment used in film production. Despite this, the film was a success and Soderburgh himself says this way of filming is 'the future'. The fact that this film is shot purely on an iPhone is a real reason to take inspiration from it for my film project, which is also filmed on an iPhone 7, with a similar genre.

The film itself follows a woman, Sawyer Valentini who moves from her home in Boston and is confined to a mental institution 'against her will' as she says after she is pursued by a stalker. Without knowing she signs a document to be kept at the Highland Creek Behavioral Center (an organisation that milks health insurance claims for profit). She is injected with various drugs and substances. She resists and doctors end up extending her stay as she does, as they begin to think she has lost her mind.

Throughout the film the fact that the film was simply shot an an iPhone 7 Plus on a DJI Osmo (a sophisticated selfie stick) stabiliser remains well hidden as its footage mimics that of any other higher-budget film. As a student it is a great piece of film to take inspiration from as it shows what can be achieved even without big-budget film equipment. It was made using an app, FiLMiC Pro, for the shutter speed, colour and focus.

The main difference between the footage and the footage seen in most films is the crisp foreground and background. Most films usually focus on the character in the scene and blur out the background, however in Unsane, every inch of the screen is visible, somehow giving the film a more unsettling atmosphere. It is often compared to another film, Tangerine, also shot on an iPhone, however Unsane is edited with shots like a standard film, whereas Tangerine is more natural, with simple shots of the shoulders and handheld use.

Reference list Mathieu Kassovitz (1995). La haine. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2021]. Nazarian, A. (2020). 25 years on, La Haine is more relevant than ever. [online] i-D. Available at: https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/935kmz/25-years-la-haine-anniversary-mathieu-kassovitz [Accessed 8 Oct. 2021]. Soderbergh, S., Bernstein, J., Greer, J., Foy, C., Leonard, J. and Pharoah, J. (2018). Unsane. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7153766/ [Accessed 11 Oct. 2021].