Kassovitz, Mathieu

(1967- )

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. Mathieu Kassovitz made his film debut acting in Au bout du bout du banc (1979), a film directed by his father, Peter Kassovitz. He won the César for Most Promising Actor for his performance in Jacques Audiard's Regarde les hommes tomber in 1995 and was nominated for a César for Best Actor in Costa-Gavras's Amen (2002). He delivered a very clever performance in Audiard's Un héros très discret and costarred in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001). He had a major English-speaking role in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film, Munich (2005).

   In addition to dramatic roles, Kassovitz also does comedy. His roles in his own film, Métisse (1993), and in Amélie (2001) were somewhat comedic, and he had a fully comic role in Alain Chabat's Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002). He also appeared in Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern's comic film Avida (2006). He once famously quipped that those who say he is a white Spike Lee are saying nothing, since Spike Lee was once called a black Woody Allen. It is true that the influence of both directors is evident in Kassovitz's acting and directing.

   Kassovitz began his directing career with shorts such as Fierrot le pou (1990), Cauchemar blanc (1991), and Assassins (1992). To date, he is best known for La Haine (1995), which is often associated with jeune cinéma and the cinéma de banlieue. Simultaneously a contemplation of French discrimination against multiple-generation immigrants and an exposure of police brutality in the working-class suburbs of Paris, La Haine won the César for Best Film in 1996, and Kassovitz was named Best Director for La Haine at Cannes in 1995. Kassovitz's first feature, Métisse, took on the issue of internal discrimination among Parisians of Jewish and African descent, and was also nominated for a César for Best New Film. Both features are important cinematic representations of multicultural France and were influenced by Spike Lee. Kassovitz later directed Assassin(s) (1997), and the more conventional thrillers Les rivières pourpres (2000) and Gothika (2003), a less acclaimed English-language film. He recently began work on a film titled Babylon A.D., scheduled for release in 2007.