la haine a level essay questions

• May 26, 2019

La Haine | A Level French Revision Tips | Writing Exam

Updated: Aug 5, 2021

The A Level French Writing paper is a breeze with these useful pointers from Adeline!

The film “La Haine” is a classic of the A Level syllabus, and is suggested for instance by Edexcel and AQA . Most A Level students will sit their French Paper 2 (Writing) mid-June, so we thought it would be worth going over some of the works that will come up!

We’ve already discussed Les Choristes and Entre les Murs in our Teacher in Talkies series, but today I would like to focus on La Haine for the Writing exam.

French Paper 2 (Writing)

Before we start, here’s a reminder of what will be expected of students in Paper 2 — as always, please double check the official instructions that apply to you with your own school and exam board, but this should apply to most students.

The exam paper will have a series of questions covering all the works set in the syllabus (texts and films). For each work, there will be two possible questions and you are free to pick the question you like the most out of the two. Out of all the questions, you only need to answer two. If you want to answer 2 questions on 2 texts, that’s fine, but you cannot answer 2 questions on 2 films: if you want to answer a question on a film, the second question you pick has to be on a text.

You won’t have access to the texts or films during the assessment, and you are expected to write essays that are approximately 300 words long. It is also noted that “all questions will require a critical appreciation of the concepts and issues covered in the work and a critical and analytical response to features such as the form and the technique of presentation, as appropriate to the work studied (e.g. the effect of narrative voice in a prose text or camera work in a film)” ( AQA ).

This is important: it means you need to know the plot and themes well, but also to be aware of the artistic and technical dimension of the work, so make sure you include both elements in your revision if you want to get a top grade! In “La Haine”, one of the obvious things to discuss would be the use of black and white for instance, but there are plenty of other things you might want to include.

La Haine — Main Facts

La Haine (“Hatred”) was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and came out in 1995 ( click to see trailer ). The film focuses on three young men — Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé) and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) living in the French “banlieue”. It depicts 24 hours of their lives, on the day after violent riots took place, and describes the tension between them and the police.

Useful vocabulary & quotes from La Haine

• Banlieue : the film takes place in a French “banlieue” (it was shot in Chanteloup-les-Vignes , in the North West of Paris). “Banlieue” is tricky to translate because even though it literally means “suburbs”, the connotations are very different in French. In French, “banlieues” are low-income neighbourhoods with a high percentage of immigrant populations. They are often on the fringe of bigger cities like Paris or Lyon. I’ve seen “banlieue” translated as “fringe”, which reflects their marginal dimension and the fact that they tend to be overlooked by the rest of society. It is also worth noting that the inhabitants of banlieues are called “banlieusards” (the spelling is tricky so worth including on your revision cards).

• Bavure : litteraly, “baver” means to dribble, and “bavure” can be used to describe a smudge of ink on a page. In the context of the film — “une bavure policière” — it describes a police blunder, an act of violence that shouldn’t have happened. As the film revolves around the tension between the characters and the police, this is a particularly useful word to know!

• "C’est l’histoire d’un homme qui tombe d’un immeuble de cinquante étages. Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute, il se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien. Mais l'important n’est pas la chute, c’est l’atterrissage ."

This is probably the most famous quote in “La Haine”. Hubert describes a character falling off a building, and repeating to himself “so far I’m doing fine”. However, Hubert’s conclusion is that “it’s not the fall that’s important, it’s the landing”. There are many ways to analyse this but it can be seen as a comment on the state of the banlieues and the fact that society is trying to ignore the issues they are facing — pretending it’s all going to be fine, and exposing itself to disaster.

Extra reading

• In French: the French equivalent of IMDB ( Allociné ) has a lot of information on the film, including a section of anecdotes and fun facts about the film. Useful if you’re a cinema fan and want to know more about the references in the film.

• In French: Wikiquote has a very useful recap of quotes in the film. They are not all worth remembering, but you might want to learn one or two!

• In English: this Medium article is a bit more advanced but offers a fascinating reflection on the relationship between the environment (i.e. the architecture of the banlieue ) and the characters. It refers to specific techniques in the film so it is really good if you want more ideas about the technical aspects to comment on. If you find arguments you might want to reuse, remember to think of how you would put it in French.

Bonne chance!

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Writing an essay- guidance

As and a level french, essay writing.

As a rough guide you should spend about 10 minutes planning your essay, 45 minutes writing it and 5 minutes checking it.

I. Planning your essay:

It is important to plan your essay well. Make points clearly and logically so that the examiner can follow your argument. Take time to devise a plan before you start writing. This avoids rambling account and allow a structure which is easy to follow. You might find that the following points help you to plan your essay well:

· Read the question carefully. Make sure you have understood what you are being asked to do (the question may be in two parts)

· If you are completing an AS examination, the question will also have a list of bullet points to help you focus on the question. Make sure you engage with this guidance points BUT be aware that they do not in themselves give you the structure of the essay!

· It is sensible to plan your essay in French. This will prevent you writing ideas you are not able to express in the target language.

· Focus on the key words. For example, you may be asked to analyse, evaluate, explore or explain.

· Select the main point you want to make in your essay and then break this down into 3 or 4 sub-sections. They will become your paragraphs.

· Choose relevant information only!

· Decide on the order of your paragraphs. It might be a good idea to keep your strongest idea for your last paragraph. Note down linking words or phrases you can use between paragraphs to make your essay flow as a coherent and logical argument.

· Select one or two relevant and concise quotations which you can use to illustrate some of the points you make.

· Think about the suggested word count for the essay. It should always be possible to write a meaningful essay within the allocated number of words. So try to answer concisely.

· Think about how to introduce and conclude your essay, ensuring that you have answered the question set.

You might find the following template helpful to plan your essay:

II. Writing the essay:

· Remember that you are writing for a person who is reading your essay: the content should be interesting and should communicate your meaning with clarity and coherence.

· Stick to your plan and do not get side tracked into developing an argument or a point that is not relevant to the question set.

Introduction:

· It should be a single paragraph (approx. 5 lines)

· You can use a short sentence to introduce the film or the text you have studied.

· Show your understanding of the question: you should explain to your reader what you understand the question to mean, identify the issue it raises and how you are going to tackle them.

Question: Examinez le personnage de Saïd dans le film La Haine.

Introduction :

Development :

· This part will be divided into a number of interconnected paragraphs, each of which will pick up and develop the points raised in your introduction.

· Each paragraph should be introduced with a sentence stating what the paragraph is about.

· Make sure you are following a clear pathway through your paragraphs leading to your conclusion. You should move from one facet of your argument to the next, linking them conceptually by, for example, contrast, addition or comparison.

· Each paragraph must have an internal logic whereby you examine a separate point, making your argument, supporting it with evidence and possibly quotations and drawing conclusions.

· Try to have balanced paragraphs (with about the same amount of content).

Example (last paragraph):

Conclusion :

· Read through what you have written again and THEN write your conclusion.

· It should summarise your arguments succinctly

· Be careful not to simply lift passages from your development!

III. Check your work :

· Review your essay carefully and check for errors of: grammar, punctuation, accents and spelling.

· Check especially: verb endings, tenses and moods, and adjectival agreements.

· You should employ a good range of vocabulary and include terminology related to film and literature.

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La Haine Essay Questions A-level French

Subject: French

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

14 September 2019

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