American Genre Film in the French Banlieue: Luc Besson and Parkour

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Cinema Journal, Volume 53, Number 3, Spring 2014, pp. 26-51 (Article)

P bl h d b n v r t f T x PrDOI: 10.1353/cj.2014.0024

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American Genre Film in the French Banlieue: Luc Besson and Parkourby DAVID PETTERSEN

Abstract: This article analyzes the cultural politics of Luc Besson’s recent producing ventures. It argues that his EuropaCorp studio’s three parkour fi lms, Yamakasi (2001), Banlieue 13 (2004), and Banlieue 13: Ultimatum (2009), offer ways to think about how Besson negotiates the competing pressures of Hollywood cinema, a globalizing commercial fi lm industry, and traditionalist conceptions of French cinema. By locating his Cité du Cinéma in the marginalized French suburbs and by setting some of its fi lms there, Besson and other contemporary French fi lmmakers fuse French banlieue culture with American genre formulas to imagine what a commercially viable French popular cinema might look like.

A fter some thirteen years of negotiation, fund-raising, and delays, Luc Besson’s Cité du Cinéma, a French version of England’s Pinewood Studios or Italy’s Cinecittà,finallyopenedoutsideParisintheFrenchbanlieue,orsuburbs,onSeptember21,2012.Thesuburbsof theFrenchimaginarycallforthimages

notof whitepicketfences,manicuredlawns,single-familyhomes,andmiddle-classsuccess but rather of bleak housing projects, poverty, urban blight, immigrants,riots,andsocialunrest,somethingclosertotheAmericanorBritishinnercity.Bes-sonandhiscollaboratorschosetolocateCitéduCinémaintheSeine–Saint-Denis region;theso-called93,nicknamedafterthefirsttwodigitsof itspostalcode.Thisareawasoneof theflashpointsof the2005suburbanriotsthatspreadwell intoParis.Inthecityof Saint-Denis,Besson’steamrenovateda1930sart-decopowerstationtohousesoundstages,postproductionfacilities,corporateoffices,andtwofilm schools.EuropaCorp,acompanyBessonhad founded in2000asaFrenchrival toandsometimescollaboratorwith theAmericanmajorstudios,moved itsheadquarterstotheCitéduCinémacampus.TheLouisLumièreNationalSchoolof Cinema also relocated, and Besson opened a free, two-year, apprenticeship-basedfilmschoolforthosewithoutfinancialmeansorformaldegrees.Theinau-gurationof CitéduCinémaanditsconcentrationof production,distribution,andeducational resources raise two important questions:why buildCité in the firstplace,andmoreimportant,whychoosetosituateitinSaint-Denis,oneof themostimpoverishedandsymbolicpartsof theFrenchbanlieue?

David Pettersen is Assistant Professor of French and Associate Director of Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is completing a monograph on Americanism in 1930s French literature and cinema.

Cinema Journal 53 | No. 3 | Spring 2014

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Bessonis internationallyknownforhisworkasadirectorbothinFranceandinHollywood.ThefilmsthatestablishedhisreputationpredateEuropaCorpandincludeSubway(1985),La femme Nikita (Nikita,1990);Léon (Léon: The Professional,1994),andLe cinquième élément (The Fifth Element,1997).Sincetheearly2000shehasdevotedmoretimetoproducingfilmsandworkingontheCitéduCinémaprojectthantodirecting.Thechoiceof theculturallyandeconomicallymarginalized,peripheralspaceof theFrenchsuburbsispartof abroaderstrategyonthepartof BessonandEuropaCorp,throughsomeof thefilmshisstudiohasproducedoverthepastdecade,toharnessthecounterculturalchargeof thebanlieuetoreorientthevaluesof FrenchcinemaandFrenchculturemorebroadly.France’sdeep-rootedculturalexceptionalism(l’exception culturelle)hashistoricallyemphasizedelitecultureoverpopular,highformsoverlow,and a culture of distinctionover an egalitarianone.1Besson’s efforts over thepastdecadeandahalf seektocarveoutalternatespacesandpathsforcommercialFrenchfilmproductionwithintheconstraintsof Hollywoodhegemonyatthedomesticboxoffice,Frenchcriticaltastesthatscornthepopular,andstatefundingmechanismsthatfavorsmallerauteuristfilms.Besson’sculturalstrategyinthe2000sand2010sisnotanegationof Frenchculturebut ratheracreativeadaptationof Frenchness to theconstraintsof global,transnationalfilmmarkets.

Threeof thefilmsproducedandcowrittenbyBessonanddistributedbyhisEuro-paCorp studio, Yamakasi, les samouraïs des temps modernes (Yamakasi, the Samurai of Modern Times; Ariel Zeitoun and JulienSeri,2001),Banlieue 13 (District 13;PierreMorel,2004),and Banlieue 13: Ultimatum (District 13: Ultimatum;PatrickAlessandrin,2009),foregroundthesportof parkourasameansof Gallicizingcommercialandpopulargenrecinema.Parkour,orfreerunning,asitiscalledinsomepartsof theworld,isasportthatcom-binesmartialarts,gymnastics,andrunning.Asparkourpractitioners,ortraceurs as they areknowninFrench, runthroughthesuburbs,theymovethroughandoverratherthanaroundarchitecturalobstacles,suchasbuildings,fences,stairs,andbenches,andtheyalwayslookforthesimplestandmostefficientwaytogetbetweentwopoints(Figure

1 Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984).

Figure 1. David Belle leaping from rooftop to rooftop, in Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp, 2004).


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1).WithitsrootsintheFrenchbanlieue,parkour combinesanautochthonoussenseof Frenchness,acounterculturalstreetcredibility,andasocialconscience.2

ParkourisoftenreadthroughMicheldeCerteau’sinfluentialconceptof tactics.3 By tactics,Certeaumeansvariousquotidianpractices like readingandwalking thatusespacesandtexts inwaysotherthantheircreators intendedand, intheprocess,subvertestablishedconfigurationsof power.4Wecanextendthereadingof parkourasanexampleof Certeauiantacticstoseeinthespatialpracticeatheoreticalframe-workfor thinkingabouthowaFrenchpopularcinemamightresist thecommercialcolonizationof Americancinema.Parkourcanbeconsideredamodelof thewaysinwhichBesson’sproducingactivitiesandFrenchgenrefilmsmorebroadlyseektonego-tiatethecomplexnationalandtransnationalpressuresonFrenchcinemaandFrenchidentity.Asametaphorforfilmproductionanddistribution,parkourgesturestowardthecreativenegotiationof shiftinglocalandglobaleconomicandculturalobstaclesinimaginingapopular,nationalcinema.Besson’sinterestinparkour andthephysi-calspacesof thebanlieuewithinandbeyondhisfilmsconstitutes,tospeakinMarxistterms,aninterventioninboththeinfrastructureandthesuperstructureof theFrenchfilmindustry.Indeed,aswewillsee,thesetwolevelsof interventioncannotbeneatlyseparatedandaremutuallyreinforcing. Toconsiderbothof theselevelstogether,weneedamodeof analysisthatcombinesaspectsof bothauteuristandindustrialapproachestofilmhistory.Studiesof Besson’sworkhavetendedtoadoptanauteuristlens,whichmeansthattheylimittheirscopetothefilmsthatBessonhimself directed.5SuchanapproachminimizesbothBesson’sinstitutionalactivities(EuropaCorpandCitéduCinéma)andhisworkasaproducer.Giventhatheisnowprincipallyaproducerandwriter,theseactivitiesseemimportantinthinkingabouthisplaceinFrenchfilmhistory.Atthesametime,apurelyindustrialapproach to EuropaCorp or to French commercial cinemamore broadly also hastroublecapturingtheculturalstakesof Besson’srecentactivities.IsabelleVanderschel-den’stwoarticlesabouttheeconomicsof Frenchcommercialcinemagoalongwaytowardaddressingtherelativeneglectof Frenchpopularcinema,particularlygenre

2 Bill Marshall reminds us that parkour’s origins are not so indigenous. Georges Hébert, naval officer and physical educator, developed the méthode naturelle after admiring athletic black bodies in Martinique at the turn of the twentieth century. The méthode naturelle is an early twentieth-century version of French gymnastics training that focused on everyday movements and used obstacle courses. See Bill Marshall, “Running across the Rooves of Empire: Parkour and the Postcolonial City,” Modern and Contemporary France 18, no. 2 (May 2010): 167; Peter J. Bloom, French Colonial Documentary: Mythologies of Humanitarianism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008), 183–198. The French military later adopted the méthode naturelle to train soldiers and firefighters. David Belle’s father, Raymond, was trained in this method, and David learned it through him. My point here is not about the historical origins of parkour as much as what the sport signifies and how it is promoted in the French public sphere.

3 Marshall and Neil Archer both read parkour through de Certeau: Neil Archer, “Virtual Poaching and Altered Space: Reading Parkour in French Visual Culture,” Modern and Contemporary France 18, no. 1 (2010): 93–107; Marshall, “Running across the Rooves of Empire.” Sophie Fuggle approaches it through Derrida, which is a similar if not entirely equivalent gesture: “Le Parkour: Reading or Writing the City?,” in Rhythms: Essays in French Literature, Thought, and Culture, ed. Elizabeth Lindley and Laura McMahon (New York: Peter Lang, 2008), 159–170.

4 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, trans. Steven Rendall (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 37–38.

5 This is beginning to change. See the essays collected in Susan Hayward and Phil Powrie, eds., Essays on Luc Besson: Master of Spectacle (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006).


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cinema.6 However, they share some of the limitations that Jerome Christensen at-tributestoindustrialapproachestofilmhistory.7Inaddition,thespecificdeploymentof banlieuespaceinthesefilmscannotbeseparatedfromtheculturalpoliticsof thebanlieueincontemporaryFranceorfromBesson’schoicestolocateEuropaCorpandCitéduCinémainSaint-Denis.BylocatingCitéduCinémainaroughneighborhood,Bessonbelievesthathis“cinemacity”willbringtheareajobs,tourism,urbandevelop-ment,transportationconnectionstotherestof France,andperhapsevenracialandeconomicintegration.Inthecaseof Besson,thepoliticsof productionalignswiththepoliticsof style. Whatismore,Besson’suseof thebanlieuetoimagineanalternativeFrenchpopu-larcultureisbeginningtohaveaneffectonotherproducersandfilmmakers,notjustthose associatedwith Besson or EuropaCorp. Besson’s vision for EuropaCorp andCitéispartof anattemptatabroaderreconfigurationof thepowerandtastestruc-turesthatdefineFrenchfilmculture.Heemployshisownmegawattstarpersonality,cultivatedoverseveraldecadesof directingfilmsonbothsidesof theAtlantic,toshiftideasaboutwhatFrenchfilmandcultureisorshouldbe.ForBesson,themarginal-izedsocial,cultural,andeconomicspaceof thebanlieuefiguresapotentiallyalternateculturalspace,onethatcreativelyfusesindigenousandtransnationalformsof cultureintoauniquelyFrenchbrandof popularculture.ContemporaryFrenchfilms,particu-larlycommercialones,areincreasinglydeployingthespaceof thebanlieueandlink-ingittoothergenres,forms,andmodesof filmmaking.Thisusedifferssignificantlyfrom the naturalistic, sociological, and documentary conventions that structure much banlieue and beur (FrenchMaghrebi)cinemasincethe1980s.8

Besson’srecentworkasproducerexemplifiesthisnewtrend,butitalsoextendsfarbeyondhimandEuropaCorp.Aninvestigationof Besson’sworksuggeststhatthisten-dencyisnotsimplyaquestionof filmstyleasrepresentationandthepoliticsassociated

6 Isabelle Vanderschelden, “Luc Besson’s Ambition: EuropaCorp as a European Major for the 21st Century,” Studies in European Cinema 5, no. 2 (July 2008): 91–104; Isabelle Vanderschelden, “Strategies for a ‘Transnational’/French Popular Cinema,” Modern and Contemporary France 15, no. 1 (February 2007): 37–50.

7 According to Christensen, industrial models of film analysis ignore differences in the production strategies, and ultimately the films, of individual studios. Christensen’s solution to the auteurist-industrial divide is to posit the corporation as an intermediary body every bit as intentional as an individual person. A studio’s corporate mission and identity can be discerned by looking for “the pattern of studio productions that define its identity, represent its objectives, and that endeavor to achieve those objectives.” Jerome Christensen, “Studio Authorship, Corporate Art,” in Auteurs and Authorship: A Film Reader, ed. Barry Keith Grant (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2008), 177.

8 The term beur means “Arab” in the popular form of French slang called verlan that inverts the order of syllables. Beur cinema typically refers to a group of films directed by second- and third-generation Maghrebi French who are the children and grandchildren of North African immigrants. In most cases, they grew up in France and are French citizens. Beur films often, but do not exclusively, intersect with the space of the banlieue. During the 1990s, several films about the banlieue made by directors of various backgrounds appeared, and consequently, French film scholars began to talk loosely about banlieue cinema as a genre in contemporary French cinema. While the banlieue cinema genre is porous, the films in question are all linked to a particular space, much like the American Western. See Myrto Konstantarakos, “Which Mapping of the City? La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995) and the cinéma de banlieue,” in French Cinema in the 1990s: Continuity and Difference: Essays (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 160–171. The sociological and naturalistic tendency is also replicated in much of the scholarship on beur and banlieue cinema. See, for example, Carrie Tarr, Reframing Difference: Beur and Banlieue Filmmaking in France (New York: Palgrave, 2005). Matthieu Kassovitz’s La haine (Hate, 1995) is an important antecedent to the more commercial use of banlieue space I analyze here. That film is often misrecognized as a naturalistic exposé of the banlieue when in fact it is a commercial genre film, which Kassovitz’s subsequent career as a director only confirms.


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withit;rather,it isamodelof thinkinginwhichthemeansof production,andthekindsof practices involved inmaking thesefilms,have tobeequally taken intoac-count.Onlythisintegratedformof analysiswillallowustounderstandwhatistakingplacewiththesecommercialbanlieue genrefilmsandwhytheymighthaveimportantpoliticalresonancewhilestillbeingexamplesof resolutelypopularcinema.Thefigureforthispoliticsisthetraceur,theparkourpractitionerwhoisrepresentedinthefilmsandwhoalsomodelstheworkof thefilmmakers.Thespiritof Besson’srecentinter-ventionsisinseparablefromthecounterculturalideologyof parkour.

Besson’s Certain Tendency of French Cinema and Culture. Likeparkour’srela-tionshiptothebanlieue,Besson’sproducingstrategiesseekneithertooverturnHolly-woodhegemonynortoimitateit.Thesamecouldbesaidof hisrelationshiptoFrenchculture.DespitethefactthatFrenchcriticsoftenaccuseBessonof beingtheharbingerof doomforhighFrenchculture,heactuallywantstopreserveaspaceforpopularfilmsintheFrenchlanguageandtobringthemoneyof foreignfilmproductionstoFrance.Besson’sstrategyisacomplicateddanceof pushandpull,muchliketheath-leticism of the traceurs,whousetheurbanspacethatconfinesthemtocreatebeautifulexpressionsof movementandgrace. Therelationshipsof variousnationalcinemastoHollywoodhaveoftenbeentheo-rizedintermsof powerandmetaphorsof colonization.However,inanincreasinglyglobalized,transnationalage,otherpowercenterssuchasBollywoodandEastAsiacreateamoredistributedfieldof activity forfilmproduction.AnxietyaboutpowerdifferentialsbetweenHollywoodandnationalcinemas isespeciallyacute inFrenchcriticaldiscourse,especiallyafterHollywoodfilmstookovertheFrenchboxofficein1986.9Sincethattime,andwithfewexceptions,HollywoodfilmshaveoutperformedFrenchfilms.TheFrenchhavelongbelievedtheirculturetobeexceptionalratherthanpopular,onethatdeserveslegalexceptionstoensureitscontinuedexistence.CinemaplaysasignificantroleinculturalprideinFrance,thanksinparttotheinternationalrenownof theFrenchnewwave films andwritings.Early diplomatic andpoliticalmaneuversthatsoughttopreservethisplaceincludetherenegotiationof theBlum-Byrnesagreementsaroundtheendof theSecondWorldWarandtheestablishmentof governmentsubsidiesforcinemaproductionundercultureministerAndréMalraux.Eveninmorerecentdevelopments,suchasthepopularturnof culturalpolicyduringtheJackLangyearsinthe1980sandthenegotiationof theGeneralAgreementonTariffsandTradesin1993,FrancehaspersistentlyadvocatedforeconomicexceptionsforFrenchculturalproducts,particularlyfilms.10Thecultural legacyof theFrenchnewwaveandtheeconomiclegacyof fundingstructureshavesolidifiedacertainideaof whatFrenchcinemawas,is,andshouldbe.

9 Phil Powrie, French Cinema in the 1980s: Nostalgia and the Crisis of Masculinity (New York: Clarendon Press, 1997), 1.

10 David Looseley, The Politics of Fun: Cultural Policy and Debate in Contemporary France (Washington, DC: Berg Publishers, 1995), 79, 197–209.


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FrenchcriticaldiscoursehaslongscornedBessonasanAmericanizeddirectorwhofocusesonmakingstylizedyetvapidcommercialfareforyoungaudiences.11 Besson andhis films often are vilified as the deplorableOther of an authentically Frenchauteuristcinema.InaparticularlyviciousarticlethatelicitedalawsuitfromBesson,HervéDeplassecallshimamerebusinessmanandacinematic“sponge”whorecyclesthemeagerdreamsof aninfantilizedyoungconsumeristaudience.Deplasse’sBessonisnotanartist,andhedoesnotpossessanyknowledgeof filmhistory;hisfilmsaremeremarketingmachines.InDeplasse’sestimation,atrueFrenchcinema,oratruecinema tout court,shouldbesurprising,timely,anticommercial,andcountercultural—inshort,composedonlyof worksof “art.”DeplassecomparesBessontoanexaggeratedGeorgeLucaswhothinksonlyof moneyandcarefullycalibratesthe“parameters”of hisfilmstomaximizeprofits.12

FilmhistorianandcriticAntoinedeBaecquearticulates thedangersof afigurelikeBessonmorebleaklyinanop-edpiecerespondingtoaflashpointintheculturewars during the early 2000s.13 During a press conference in December 2001, thepresident of Vivendi-Universal, Jean-MarieMessier, was asked about the risks of the Americanization of French cinema, to which he replied that French culturalexceptionalismwasdead.14Thesewordsunleashedatorrentof anxiousandirritatedcommentary in the French press from defenders of French exceptionalism and acertainnotionof Frenchcinema.15IndeBaecque’sownreactiontoMessier’sremarks,hedefinesFrenchcinemainrelationtowhatitisnot,namelyBesson.Frenchcinema,fordeBaecque,isacinemaof culture,diversity,andauteurs.Frenchfilmsaremadethroughtraditionalmethodsof productionwithsmallcompaniesandstatefunding.Bessonandhisstudio,EuropaCorp,functionfordeBaecqueasa“bigbadwolf ”witha completelydifferentmodeof filmmaking and, by extension, cultural identity.ByimitatingtheverticallyintegratedHollywoodstudiowithitsfactorylineof “efficientandeffectivecompetencies,”Bessonisconcernedonlywithcommerciallysuccessfulproducts.16FordeBaecque,“thisHollywooddream...couldturnouttobeFrenchcinema’sworstnightmare.”17

11 Rosanna Maule, “Du Côté d’Europa, via Asia: The ‘Post-Hollywood’ Besson,” in The Films of Luc Besson: Master of Spectacle (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006), 23.

12 Hervé Deplasse, “Besson m’a tué mon cinéma,” Brazil, January 2003.

13 Philippe Poirrier, “Une éphémère (re)politisation du champ culturel: Politique culturelle et débat public en France lors des élections de 2002,” Territoires contemporains, n.s., no. 1 (June 26, 2008), http://tristan.u-bourgogne.fr /UMR5605/publications/autreslieux/P_Poirrier.htm.

14 Alan Riding, “Remark by Vivendi Chief Unnerves French Film Industry,” New York Times, December 24, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/24/movies/remark-by-vivendi-chief-unnerves-french-film-industry.html.

15 See, among many others, Garrigos Raphaël, “Quel sublime faux procès!,” Libération, December 20, 2001, http://www.liberation.fr/medias/2001/12/20/quel-sublime-faux-proces_387987; Guy Sorman, “La culture française, ni exceptionnelle ni menacée,” Le Figaro, January 2, 2002.

16 All translations are mine unless otherwise noted.

17 Antoine de Baecque, “Messier, mots à maux,” Libération, January 2, 2002, http://www.liberation.fr /culture/0101398503-messier-mots-a-maux.


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These caricatures of Besson in the pressmask amore complex reality.DespitethedifficultiesinherentinnavigatingFrenchinstitutionalstructuresandculturaldis-courses,BessonhassuccessfullymanagedtoretainhiscreativeindependencewhetherworkinginHollywoodorinFrance.18EuropaCorpcanalsobereadasanattempttomaintainhiscreativeautonomyandfosterhisownparticularvisionforadifferentkindof Frenchcinema.Hisconceptionof Frenchcinemahasprogressivelytakeninstitu-tionalformthroughbothEuropaCorpandCitéduCinémainSaint-Denis.Besson’spersonalinfluencecannotbeoverestimated,althoughhis involvementwithEuropa-Corp’sprojectsvarieswidely.Hisculturalcapitalandinstitutionalpowerhavecreated,directlyorindirectly,theconditionsthatmadeviablemanyof theFrenchcommercialgenremoviesof thepastdecade.

Where’s the “French” in French Genre Cinema? Thefirstparkour filmthatLucBessonproducedandcowrote,Yamakasi, les samouraïs des temps modernes, inverts the stereotypescommonlyassociatedwithbanlieue charactersinpopularmainstreamcin-ema and beur cinema.Thefilmisahybridthriller-heist,anditsmainplot,thestoryof agroupof banlieue residentslookingaftertheirown,containsaminimallevelof socialawareness.Itusesanaturalisticcinematographyandlookthatevokesdocumentary,butitsstylizededitingrhythmslocateitclosertoactionandthrillergenres. Yamakasi tellsthestoryof ayoungchildfromthebanlieue with a frail heart who tries to imitate the traceurs byclimbingatree.Whenhefallstotheground,heinjureshisheartsoseverelythatif hedoesnotreceiveatransplantwithinafewdays,hewilldie.NocompatibledonorisavailableinFrance,sohisfamilymustfindfourhundredthousandfrancstohaveanacceptableheartshippedfromSwitzerland.Becausethisisanimpossiblesumforapoorfamily,thetraceurs decidetorobtherichParisiandoctorswhoruntheorganizationthatdealsintransplantorgans.Thetraceurs explicitlyrefertothemselvesaslatter-dayRobinHoods,explainingtoviewerstheblack-and-white,class-inflectedmoralitythatopposesthepoorbanlieueresidentstotherichParisiandoctorswholiveinpalatialhomesinthecitycenter. Yamakasi transformstheparkour foundersintoheroic,almost-mythicfigures.Thefilm’s title clearly indicates the interpretative lens through which Besson and hiscollaboratorsstyledparkour foramassaudienceasaFrenchformof martialarts.Thefilm’snarrativealsoevokesKurosawa’sSeven Samurai (1954)asameansof portrayingthe traceurs as reluctant heroes who will defend the weak. Given the film’s genrereferences,onemightexpectmultiplefightsequencesinthisself-styledsamuraimovie.Yamakasi,however,focusesmoreontheacrobaticgymnasticsinvolvedindaringheistsandescapesthanonviolentconfrontations.Intheend,thefilm’snarrativepremiseanditsoppositionbetweenheroesandvillainsfeellikeapretextforspectacularstunts. AsistypicalforfilmsproducedbyBesson,Yamakasi wasapopularsuccessbutafail-urewithcritics.Thefilmsold2,484,292ticketsoverelevenweeks,anditwasshownin504theatersduringitsopeningweekend,whichcountsasawidereleaseforaFrench

18 Maule, “‘Post-Hollywood’ Besson,” 23–24.


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filminFrance.19ItwasnotdistributedintheUnitedStates,althoughithasacultfol-lowinginparkour circlesoutsideFrance.Frenchcriticspanneditasafilmdesignedto please a young audiencewithout serious intellectual engagement.Didier Péron,whocalledthefilm’ssocialcritique“toostupidforwords[bête à pleurer],”didadmitthattheoneincontestablypositivedimensionof thefilmis“itscapacitytomakeof second- and third-generation immigrant kids something different from sociologicalfictionorethnoparodiccomedy.”20Theparkour founderswhoplay the traceurs also notethatthefilmisoneof thefirsttimesFrenchaudiencessawyoungpeoplefromthebanlieueplayingheroesinafilm.21Thefilm’schief interest,then,isthewayinwhichitcontestsconventionalrepresentations,betheypositiveornegative,of beur and banlieue characters.Yamakasi refuses the naturalistic, sociological, and documentary conventions of much beur andbanlieue cinema.Italsochallengesthecomedyoractiongenrestereotypesof manybanlieue characters.Yamakasi’s traceurs are not the violent, idleyouthof MathieuKassovitz’sLa haine (Hate,1995)orthemanybanlieue filmsthatfollowedit.NoraretheythecomedicfiguresinwhatPéronlabels“ethnoparodiccom-edy”orthecomicstereotypesseeninBesson’sTaxi franchise (Taxi,1998;Taxi 2,2000;Taxi 3,2003;andTaxi 4,2007).Yamakasi doesnotcreatefiguresof greatcomplexity,butitdoesinvertthetypicalethicaldistributionof racial,ethnic,andclasscategoriesinactioncinema.Thetraceurs remainmelodramatic,oversimplifiedcharacters.Yetasstand-insforordinarybanlieue residents,theybecometheheroes,whileupper-classFrenchbourgeoisbecomethecaricaturedvillains. Despitethefilm’snoteworthydepictionof banlieueheroes,Yamakasi did not go on to internationalsuccess.Itreliedtooheavilyonanimplicitknowledgeof thesocialsituation in the banlieue, French political structures, andParisian geography to beintelligibletoforeignaudiences.EventhoughitreferencesKassovitz’sLa haine byfea-turingabanlieue-borncoptornbetweenloyalties,Yamakasiwasnotasaccessibletoaglobalaudienceasitspredecessor.22 Yamakasi received not even a limited release in the USmarket,thusconfirmingthatthefilm’sproducersknewof itsindeterminatestatusvis-à-visan internationalmarket. Itwasnotenoughof anactionmovie to succeedinmainstreaminternationaltheaters,anditalsodifferedsignificantlyfromtheusual

19 In this article, French box-office figures are from http://www.cbo-boxoffice.com and US box-office figures are from http://www.boxofficemojo.com. Yamakasi’s performance is good for a French film. Comparatively, La haine sold 2,042,070 tickets in theatrical release but opened in only 118 theaters. The most successful French film of all time, Bienvenue chez les ch’tis (Welcome to the Sticks, 2008) opened in 793 theaters. The second most financially successful French film at the French box office, Les intouchables (The Intouchables, 2011) was released on 508 screens before the distributor ratcheted it up to 898 theaters at the height of its popularity. The second figure is closer to an opening-weekend screen number for a typical Hollywood blockbuster.

20 Didier Péron, “Yamakasi, les Robin des banlieues,” Libération, April 5, 2001, http://www.liberation.fr/culture /0101369685-yamakasi-les-robin-des-banlieues.

21 Mark Daniels, Génération Yamakasi (TF1 Vidéo, 2005), DVD.

22 For a good discussion of La haine’s accessibility, see Ginette Vincendeau, La haine (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2005), 23.


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Frenchentrantsintheinternationalart-cinemamarketplace(artcinemaandlightso-cialcomedy),therebyputtingitsexportabilityindoubt.23

Filmmakers found a more exportable balance of genre convention and socialconscienceinEuropaCorp’ssecondparkourfilm,Banlieue 13.Bessonproducedandcowrote Banlieue 13withBibiNaceri,thebrotherof SamyNaceri,whoanchoredBes-son’s Taxi franchise.Bessonhadtheideaforthefilm’sbasicconceptandthencalledNaceriintohisofficetohelphimwritethescreenplay,becauseNacerigrewupinthebanlieueandspentsometimeintheFrenchprisonsystembeforebecominganactorandscreenwriter.Bessonthenentrustedtheprojecttofirst-timedirectorPierreMorel,whohadpreviouslyworkedasacinematographeronthefirstTransporter movie (Corey Yuen,2002),writtenandproducedbyBesson. Thequestionof accessibilityorexportabilityforacommercialcinemaistypicallydiscussedwith respect to theories of postnational cinema or transnational cinema.MartineDanandefines apostnational cinemaas one that features “thedownplay-ingorerasureof culturalreferencesunknownordamagingtoforeignspectators.”24 Banlieue 13 indeed proved exportable, but not because it successfully removed the“Frenchness”fromaparkourfilm.Onthecontrary,Banlieue 13explicitlyandconsis-tently foregrounds the social issues confronting theFrench suburbs.ElizabethEzraandTerryRowden,inturn,employtransnationalismasameansto“understandthechangingwaysinwhichthecontemporaryworldisimaginedbyanincreasingnumberof filmmakersacrossgenresasaglobal systemrather thanasacollectionof moreorlessautonomousnations.”25 Although Banlieue 13’saestheticvocabularyisindeeddrawnfromavarietyof nationalcinematictraditions,itsnarrativerefersspecificallytocontemporaryFrance.Vanderscheldennuancesthesedebateswhenshedefinesatransnationalcinemaasthosefilmsthat“throughacombinationof national,interna-tionalandpost-nationalelements,atbothaproductionandatextuallevel,deliberatelyblendnations and cultures, rather than simply erasing cultural specificity.”26Whilethenotionof blendingismoreattentivetohybridity,itrisksbeingpurelydescriptive.RosannaMaulelocatestheproblempreciselywhensheexplainsthatBesson’sfilms,inseekingtobeglobal,havetobeadaptabletoindividualnationalmarkets.27

In terms of Banlieue 13,wemightspeakof anindependentcoexistenceof nationalsocialcontextandinternationalaestheticstylesandnarrativetropes.Thefilmsucceedsat allowingmultiple points of access within different contexts of reception.Thesemultiplelevelsof meaningcoexistanddonotinterferewiththefilm’sgenrepleasures.

23 Lucy Mazdon explains that most French popular mainstream successes are released abroad on the art-house circuit. Mazdon also notes that Besson’s Taxi was one of the first exceptions to this distribution strategy. Lucy Mazdon, France on Film: Reflections on Popular French Cinema (New York: Wallflower Press, 2001), 1–4.

24 Martine Danan, “French Cinema in the Age of Media Capitalism,” Media, Culture, and Society 22, no. 3 (2000): 356, quoted in Vanderschelden, “Strategies for a French Popular Cinema,” 37.

25 Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden, eds., Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader (New York: Routledge, 2006), 1.

26 Vanderschelden, “Strategies for a French Popular Cinema,” 38.

27 Maule, “‘Post-Hollywood’ Besson,” 37. As Toby Miller explains, “Part of the talent of international cultural commodi-ties is their adaptability to new circumstances: the successes and meanings of Hollywood films need to be charted through numerous spatial, generic, and formatting transformations as they move through US release to Europe and Asia then domestic and international video, cable, and Network television. . . . The Ford Motor Company has long worked with the adage ‘To be a multinational group, it is necessary to be national everywhere.’” Ibid.


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Banlieue 13 can be appreci-ated as a sci-fi martial artsfilmwithoutanyunderstand-ing of the contemporaryFrenchsocialcontextsbehindit,yet for those in theknow,it reads as an explicit com-mentary on the social mar-ginalization of the Frenchbanlieue. Nevertheless, thissocial commentary is not located at the level of social realism,howeverstylized;in-stead,itappearsthroughthefilm’s use of genre tropes.28 Banlieue 13’s generic refer-ences to American cinema ( JohnCarpenter’sEscape from New York, 1981, and Escape from LA,1996;BriandePal-ma’s Scarface, 1983) are notjust winks meant for actionmovie cinéphiles.Rather, theycall attention to the ways in which Banlieue 13 rewrites and inverts the source mate-rial.Itisinthisrewritingthatwecanlocatethefilm’ssocialcritique. Banlieue 13 tells the storyof adystopian futureParis inwhich the impoverishedbanlieuehasbeenseparatedfromthebourgeoiscitybymeansof animpenetrablewall(Figures2–4). Inthistenseenvironment,anidealisticParisiancop(Damien,playedbyCyrilRaffaelli)andamanfromthebanlieue(Leïto,playedbyDavidBelle)teamuptolocateanddisableanuclearbombthathasbeenstolenbyasuburbangang.Thegovernmentreferstothisweaponasthebombe propre,or“cleanbomb.”Overthecourseof thefilm,welearnthattheFrenchministerof theinteriororchestratedthewholeaffairasameanstodestroythebanlieue onceandforall.Intheend,DamienandLeïtoexposetheplanonnationaltelevision,andachastisedgovernmentvotestodestroythewall.LeonHuntwritesthatBanlieue 13 wasthefirstfilmtomatchaspecificallyFrenchactionandmovementvocabularywitha thematic context inwhichparkourmakessense.Ineffect,thefilmfound“indigenous”Frenchactionheroes,bodies,stories,and

28 Marshall calls the setting for Banlieue 13 a “non-place and non-time”; Marshall, “Running across the Rooves of Empire,” 170.

Figure 2. The wall, Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp, 2004).

Figure 3. Policing borders, Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp, 2004).

Figure 4. Naming the wall, Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp, 2004).


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styles.29Thedirector,PierreMorel,decided touseacombinationof Asianmartialarts forms,American sci-fi and actionfilm conventions, and an indigenousFrenchmovementvocabulary toarticulateamorehopefulvision thanonewould typicallyseeinFrenchbanlieue cinema.Parkour,inBanlieue 13,becomesaliteralandfigurativemeansof liberationbothforthebanlieusardsandforFrenchgenrecinema. At the level of its narrative, Banlieue 13offersanidealisticfableaboutthesuburbsanddemocracy,conspicuouslyrefusingpessimismforoptimismatnearlyeveryturn.Sciencefiction,despiteitsseemingorientationtowardthefuture, isprimarilyaboutexploringtheimplicationsof thepresentwhenpushedtoanextreme.Banlieue 13 bor-rowsthesamebasicnarrativepremiseasCarpenter’sEscape from New York and Escape from LA. Inall threemovies, a sectionof the country is separated from the restof thenationbyawallorabodyof water.Theisolatedterritorybecomesthehome(orprison) to thenation’sundesirables:criminals inEscape from New York,opponentsof Moral America in Escape from LA,ortheFrenchimmigrantandworkingclassesinBan-lieue 13.WhileCarpentertransposesthecontradictionsof theAmericandreamontoanimaginarydystopicfuture,Banlieue 13 literalizesageographicandculturaldividethatalreadyexistsinthemindsof manyFrenchpeople.30

ThefilmmakersrefusetocreateabanlieusardantiheromodeledafterSnake,thepro-tagonistinbothCarpenterfilms.Instead,Banlieue 13 adoptstheformulaof abuddyfilm,splittingthecentralprotagonistintotwocharacters.Withinthatpairing,Banlieue 13doesnotsimplyopposeanidealisticherowithaworld-wearyskepticandpessimist.Instead,itdifferentiatesthecop(Damien)andthebanlieue native(Leïto)intermsof classandgeographybutcastsbothasrepublicanidealistswho,overthecourseof thefilm,realizethattheyarefightingforthesamevaluesandgoals. Whentheyfirstmeet,itwouldseemthattheycouldnotbemoreopposed.ToearnLeïto’strust,Damienposesasafellowbanlieue native.LeïtoseesthroughDamien’srusebecausehisfightingstyleistoo“clean.”Hedoesnothavetheimprovisationthatbeingraisedwith“hate”gives someonewhogrewupthere.31 Damien immediately retortsthathedidnotlearnhateinschool,butratherliberty,equality,andfraternity,andarespectforlaw—thatis,thebasictenetsof Frenchuniversalism.Thetermuni-versalism referstoFrance’sparticularinterpretationof theEnlightenmentphilosophicalheritageinwhichallmarkersof individualorcommunaldifferenceshouldbeinvisibleinthepublicspherewhenpeopleactascitizens.ThelawandtheschoolfigurehereastheclassicrepublicaninstitutionsthatmediateFrenchnationalidentity.32

29 Leon Hunt, “Asiaphilia, Asianisation, and the Gatekeeper Auteur: Quentin Tarantino and Luc Besson,” in East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational Connections on Film, ed. Leon Hunt and Leung Wing-Fai (New York: I. B. Tauris, 2008), 228–229.

30 Cyril Raffaelli, who played Damien and served as the film’s fight choreographer, explains in the DVD’s bonus features that the walls and borders in the film already exist because French people use the first two digits of postal codes for rough banlieue neighborhoods, 92 and 93, as shorthand or synecdoche for those neighborhoods or for the banlieue generally. Dany Verissimo, the half-French, half-Malagasy actress who plays Lola in the film, says something similar. Pierre Morel, District B13 (Magnolia, 2006), DVD.

31 Leïto’s remark references Kassovitz’s 1995 film of the same name.

32 France is a republic, and so the word republican in this article references the values and institutions of French democracy independent of political distinctions such as the Right and Left.


37

Equality, for the government functionary Damien, is a question of a common social contractandthelawsthatdefineit.Leïtoimmediatelyfiresbackthatmoreimmediateneedslikewater,gas,andelectricitymustcomebeforesuchloftyideals.Hegoesontoexplainthathehasrespectedeverylawanditbroughthimnothing.Thegovernmenterectedawallandclosedalltheschools,postoffices,andpolicestationsintheban-lieue,evidenceof whatÉtienneBalibarcallsthe“recolonizationof socialrelations”thatischaracteristicof globalization.33LeïtoseesinDamienapitbullsenttodothewillof hismaster,whoisnotaparagonof Frenchrepublicanism.However,itistheframeworkof Frenchuniversalismthatultimatelyunitesthemagainstacommonen-emy(Figure5).Onthebasisof abelief thatthelawshouldbethesameforall,theyagreetoworktogethertodefusethebomb. Asthefilmprogresses,therecurringdisputesbetweenDamienandLeïtofocusonwhetherornotthecurrentFrenchgovernmentactuallylivesuptoitssupposedlyre-publicanvalues.Leïtoissuspiciousof thebombandDamien’snoble“rescuemission.”Damienwasallegedlysenttoenteracodethatwilldisarmthebomb,butLeïtothinksthatthegovernmentisactuallyplottingtoblowupthebanlieusards themselves.LeïtoconcludesthatDamien’sroleistoensurethatthebombexplodesintherightplace,theFrenchsuburbanghetto.Leïtocomparesthegovernment’sprojecttodestroythebanlieuetotheNaziexterminationof theJewsasthene plus ultra of discussions around discriminationandracism.DamienrefusestobelieveLeïto,butwhenthetimerexpiresandthebombdoesnotexplode,Damienfinallyacceptsthetruth. Afterthisrevelation,thefilmagainrefusesapessimistic,dystopicendinglikethatof theJohnCarpentermodel.DamienandLeïtodirectlyconfronttheministerof theinterior.Afterthreateningtoexplodethebombrightthereinhisoffice,theministerscreamsthatthebanlieueisuncontrollableandthatitcoststhestateafortune.Thestate’s“contributors,”presumablythemiddleandupperclasses,arefedupwithpay-ingfor“cetteracaille,”or“thatscum.”Thisturnof phrasereceivedmuchpressatten-tionwhenNicolasSarkozy,Frenchministerof theinteriorfrom2002to2007,usedit

33 Etienne Balibar, We, the People of Europe?: Reflections on Transnational Citizenship, trans. James Swenson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), 38–42.

Figure 5. Leïto (left) and Damien (right) debate French republican values, in Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp, 2004).


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todescriberiotingbanlieueresidents in 2004and2005.WhenSarkozyassumedthatoffice(andlaterthepresidency),heproposedtobethetoughguywhowould“cleanup” and secure the suburbs.Banlieue 13 predates Sarkozy’s remarks and prefigurestheriots,but it imaginesthefinal implicationsforhispolicieswhenpushedtotheirlogicalextreme.34Attheendof thefilm,Damientellstheministerthattherearefarmoredemocraticmeansthatdonotdependonviolencetoresolvetheproblemsof the banlieue. By explicitly televising exposé coverage of theminister admitting hewantedtolevelthebanlieue becausehedidnotknowwhatelsetodo,thefilmagainreturnstotherhetoricof Frenchuniversalism.Thefinalscenesuggeststhatdecisionsaboutplacesandpeoplesshouldbemadecollectivelyandpublicly, thusreinforcingtheEnlightenmentideaof ademocraticpublicsphereasessentialtothesurvivalof amodern,inclusivenation. ItwouldbeeasytosaythatBanlieue 13 simplyadoptstheconventionalhappyendingcommontomuchpopularcinemaasawayof avoidingengagementwithideologicalcontradictions.However,theextent towhichthefilmrepeatedlyemphasizesanidealis-tic,optimisticnarrativerevealsthewayitengagessocialproblemsthroughthelanguageof Americangenrecinema.ContrarytodeBaecque’saccusationsthatBesson’sbrandof commercialfilmshavenosenseof filmhistory,Banlieue 13 very much does; it is sim-plyadifferenthistoryfromthatwhichdeBaecqueexpects.Whilelessself-consciousandlessexperimentalthanJean-LucGodard’s treatmentof earlyHollywoodgangsterfilmsin Breathless (1960),Banlieue 13 neverthelessrepresentsanewiterationof along-familiarFrenchfilmpractice, particularly in theways it stages its relationship toHollywoodcinema.Whilethefilmmostobviouslyimitatesandmodifiesthedystopicworldof JohnCarpenter’sEscape films,thereareotherwaysinwhichit optsforarhetoricof optimismthroughareversalorbricolageof Americangenrecinematropes. Banlieue 13’sdepictionof drug lordsandgangsters offers a commentary on one of theur-textsof contemporaryAmericangangstercinema,BrianDePalma’s1983remakeof Scarface.Thefilm isa fundamentalreferencepointnotonly forbanlieue cinemainitsmore“seriousforms”butalsoforbanlieue youth.35 Banlieue 13 does not makereferencetothefilm’sfamousdictum,“TheWorldIsYours,”butinsteadparo-diesAlPacino’sportrayalof druglordTonyMontana.Of coursePacino’sMontanawashimself alreadyakindof parody,butco-screenwriterBibiNaceri’sperformanceasTahainBanlieue 13 satirizesMontana’scocainesnorting,hisexplosivetemper,andhisquickrecoursetoviolence(Figure6).Taha’soffice,apatheticallysmallcornerof awarehouse,isfilledwithgoldstatuesandaleatherchairthatevokeMontana’sestateonamuchsmallerscale(Figure7).Taha’sfallinthefilmresultsnotfromkillingtoomanypeoplebutfromrunningoutof moneytopayhisgangmembers,asif theyweresimpleemployees.

34 Besson notes the irony of this prefiguration in a Première interview just after Sarkozy’s remarks: “At the end of the film, we see a Minister of the Interior say ‘They’ve had enough of this scum that costs the State a fortune. . . . I wonder whether Kärcher the First [Nicolas Sarkozy] stole Banlieue 13’s dialogue.” Ghislain Loustalot, “Inter-view Luc Besson,” Première, January 18, 2007, http://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/Exclus-cinema/Interview-cinema /Interview-Luc-Besson.

35 Ginette Vincendeau in her monograph on La haine cites director Matthieu Kassovitz as saying that everyone in the banlieue knows De Palma’s film. Vincendeau, La haine, 74.


39

Banlieue 13 critiques the excess of the destructiveAmerican gangster figureby contrasting Taha withhis lieutenant, the quieter and more enlightened K2(playedbyTonyD’Amario).Thoughphysicallyabrute,K2 acts upon reflectionratherthanuponsheerim-pulse. When K2 and theothergangmembersreturnwithoutLeïto or the drugshestole,Tahabeginsshoot-ing them one by one untilhe points his gun at hissecond in command, K2,who throws his hands upand tells Taha that he hasfiguredouthowtocaptureLeïto.Laterinthefilm,whenTahatriestomurderallhisgangmembersratherthanpaythem,hecomicallyrunsoutof bulletsandasksK2forhisgun.K2refuses,andtherestof thegangmembersgunTahadowninaparodyof Montana’sspectaculardeath. K2takeschargeof theganganddecidestocaptureDamienandLeïto.However,whenfinallyconfrontedbythem,K2firstasksthemhowmuchtimeremainsuntilthebombexplodes.K2initiallywantstokeeponeof themhostagewhiletheotherdisarmsthebomb,butaftersomedebate,hedecidestoletbothDamienandLeïtogotothetopof thebuilding,wherethebombhasbeenplaced.Theuncertaintyinhisvoiceandgesturesbetrayhisdiscomfortwiththeroleof thetoughAmerican-stylegangster.WhenDamienandLeïtoreturn,K2doesnotexecutethem.Instead,hegivesDamienfiveminutestogetoutof town.ThisfinalmomentshowsthatK2isabletothinkbeyondmereself-gratificationforthegoodof hiscommunity.Aswesawearlier,thebanlieue is representedasaneocolonialspaceinwhichTaha’sgangstandsinfortheunenlightenedsavages that need France’s mission civilisatrice,orcivilizingmissionof education,healthcare,infrastructure,andeconomicdevelopment.K2’sshiftfromTaha’sviolentinstinctsandpursuitof self-gratificationtowardreasonandaconcernforthebanlieue commu-nityreinforcesthefilm’soptimisticfablethatrepublicancommunitiescanbecreatedinthebanlieue.Inotherwords,thesavageAmerican-stylegangstercanbecivilizedandthusbecomeatruememberof theFrenchrepublic. In effect, Banlieue 13replacesthecaricatureof theself-destructiveAmericangangsterwiththecaricatureof thenobleoutlaw,choosingRobinHoodoverScarface. Itisasif K2hadlearnedthelessonof La haine’s ironic rewriting of Scarface’sslogan:“thebanlieueisours,notmine.” Theoptimismof theending,however,isnotwithoutacertainirony.WhenDamientellsLeïto in thefinal scene that the governmentplans todestroy thewall and re-open the schools,hospitals, andpolice stations, it isnot clear that this is apositive

Figure 6: Bibi Naceri does his best Tony Montana impression, in Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp, 2004).

Figure 7: Scarface’s mansion in miniature, in Banlieue 13 (EuropaCorp 2004).


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development.Afterall,thecommunityinLeïto’sbuildinginthebeginningof thefilmseemedtoworkwellunderhisprotection.OnlyTaha’sdrugtradedisturbsitsstabil-ity.WithTahagone,whoistosaythatK2mightnotrunabettercommunityonadecentralized,localmodelratherthanacentralized,nationalmodel?Thereturnof republicaninstitutionstothebanlieuemightbejustasmuchanexampleof recoloni-zationasthehierarchicaldivisionof spacesthatBalibarmentions.Inanycase,withinBanlieue 13,theoptimistic,utopianrevisionof Americangenretropesisintimatelytiedtoaconsensualmythof Frenchuniversalism. Themildlydefensivetoneof thefilm’spromotionalmaterials,whichseemtoapol-ogizeforthesocialcontentof Banlieue 13,shoulddispelanyremainingdoubtthatthefilm itself ties social commentary to genre tropes.Concerned that thepronouncedemphasisontheproblemsof thebanlieuemightdetractfromthefilm’spleasuresasan action movie, Banlieue 13’sfilmmakersrepeatedlystressthatthemovieisprimarilyanactionpictureandthatanysocialcommentaryisanafterthoughtorbackground.BibiNaceri,co-screenwriter,notedthatthefilmis“anactionfilmbeforebeingasocialfilm,”andinthefilm’sofficialpresskit,PierreMoreldistancedhimself fromtheso-cialdimensionsof morecommittedbanlieue cinema.36Whenaskedif theexpression“banlieuefilm”suitedhim,hereplied,“Idon’tknowwhatitmeans.District B13isfirstandforemostapureactionfilmwhichtakesplaceinasuburb,setafewyearsintothefuture.The initial screenplay pitchwas a ‘political fiction’ aboutwhat the suburbsmightbeinafewyearsif wedon’tchangethingsandmakethewrongdecisions.”37 It isasif themarketingdepartmentworriedthatpromotingthefilm’ssocialconsciencewouldleadtochargesof oversimplification—whichFrenchcriticsmadeanyway—orthatitwouldalienatethefilm’skeyintendeddemographic:youthaudiencesinFrance,particularlythoseinthebanlieue. Ironically,suchextensiveapologiesonlydrewatten-tiontothefilm’ssocialagenda. Thefilm’sproductionhistoryandactorstellastorythatcontrastssharplywiththepromotionaldisavowal.AsBibiNacerirecounts,thebanlieuecontextwasalwaysfun-damentaltothearticulationof thefilm.Talkingabouttherealsocialcontextbehindthefilm,Naceriexplainsthatthefilm’sconspiracyisplausiblegiventhelevelof distrusttoward the banlieue.38The actors, in their special-features interviews, also seem tounderstandthattheyweremakingmorethanasimpleactionmovie.Thefilm’spub-licityinFranceevenplaysuptheconnectionsbetweenDavidBelleandthebanlieue,constructinghimasthefilm’sauthenticlinktothebanlieuethroughparkour.39TonyD’Amario,K2 in thefilm,explainsbest thecomplexbalance thefilmmakersmain-tainedbetweenanactionfilmandafilmwithsomethingtosayaboutFrenchsociety:“Thereweremoments[inFrenchhistoryandinthehistoryof thebanlieue]when[theseparationbetweenthebanlieueandParis]wasworse[thanwhatweseeinthefilm].

36 Marie Sauvion, “‘Banlieue 13’: Pas de,” Le parisien, November 10, 2004, http://www.leparisien.fr/loisirs-et-spec tacles/banlieue-13-pas-de-10-11-2004-2005443754.php.

37 The English-language press kit is a translation of the French one prepared by EuropaCorp. “District B13 Press Kit” (EuropaCorp and Magnolia Pictures), http://www.magpictures.com/films/District13/db13notesfinal.doc.

38 Sauvion, “‘Banlieue 13.’”

39 “District B13 Press Kit.”


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Thisfilmisuseful.Andmaybeit’stoavoidfallingagainintomomentslikethat[that]thisfilmhasause,asocialdimension.”40 Marshall reads these claims to a social mes-sageasdisingenuousbecause “thisdystopianfutureisoutlandishlymore‘other’tothepresentdaythanitisthe‘same.’”41Ineffect,hearguesthatthebanlieue’sproblemsinthefilmbearlittlerelationtoactualproblems.Marshall’sclaimassumesthatrealismistheonlywaytoportraysocialproblemsincinema,especiallywithrespecttomarginal-izedspacesandpeoples;butthereceptionof Banlieue 13problematizesthisassumption. BibiNacerihastalkedaboutthewayinwhichbanlieue audiencesidentifiedpow-erfullywiththefilm’stwoheroesatadvancescreeningsinMantes-la-JolieandSaint-Denis:“Beforethefilm,theyonlyapplaudedtherapperMCJeanGab’1andmyself....Afterthescreening,wedidn’texistanymore.TheywerecompletelytakenwithDavidBelleandCyrilRaffaelli.That’swhat’sbeautiful.Thesebanlieuekidsaren’tdifferentfromanyotherkids;theylikeheroeswhosavetheworld.”42MCJeanGab’1,whoplaysasmallroleinBanlieue 13,alsostressedthefilm’suniqueplaceinFrenchcinemaduringaninterview:

It’sarealactionfilm.Itreallygetsgoing.Frenchcinematodayisfilledwithrichkidswhotakeupallthespace.Orit’sswashbucklingcostumedramasasif Francewerelostinitshistory.WithBanlieue 13,we’reintherealmof fictionandnotpseudo-documentaryandwegetagentlelesson.Whatisit?Whenonedoesn’tknowwhattodowithpeople,onelocksthemup.Itcouldhappen.They’rebuildingalotof prisonsrightnowandthey’regoingtohavetofindsomedelinquentstoputinthere.Ihavetheimpressionthatourgenerationisn’trepresentedincinema.Whenyouseethebanlieue,it’spurecaricature.43

Whenaskedwhatfilmshewasthinkingof,Gab’1respondedwithalistof “classic”mid-1990sbanlieuefilms:“Raï [ThomasGilou,1995],La haine, and, worse yet, Ma 6-T va crack-er [My City’s Gonna Crack;Jean-FrançoisRichet,1997].”Asheimagineshisidealbanlieue cinema,hegoesontoadvocatewhatsoundslikeaneorealistaesthetic:“If theseguys[thedirectorsof theotherfilms]hadreallywantedtoshowthebanlieue,wewouldhaveseenpeopleworkingandlivingnormally.”44 Banlieue 13, of course, does notsimplyshowbanlieue youthworking,andfurthermoretheculturalassociationsof naturalisticrealismandhighcultureoftenpreventyouthfromrecognizingthemselveswithinthefilms.Gab’1remindsusthatitispreciselybecauseof theirownidentifica-tionswithactionheroesinpatently“unrealistic”filmsthatsomethinglikeBanlieue 13 canserveasamoreeffectiveformof self-recognition. Banlieue 13 performed respectably at the French box office. It was released on428screensandstayedintheatersforsixweeks,selling961,850tickets.Whileitwasless successful in France than Yamakasi,itwasexportedtotheUnitedStatesanddid

40 Morel, District B13.

41 Marshall, “Running across the Rooves of Empire,” 171.

42 Sauvion, “‘Banlieue 13.’”

43 Sébastien Catroux, “Le cinéma caricature notre génération,” Le parisien, November 10, 2004, http://www.le parisien.fr/loisirs-et-spectacles/le-cinema-caricature-notre-generation-10-11-2004-2005443765.php.

44 Ibid.


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relativelywell there.Magnolia Pictures released it to 151 theaters, including somemultiplexes.MostFrenchpopularmainstreamsuccesses,includingcomedies,arere-leasedabroadontheart-housecircuit.Besson’sTaxi wasoneof thefirstexceptionstothisdistributionstrategy.45 Banlieue 13 didnotremainlongintheaters,andbythethirdweekof release,thenumberof screenshaddroppedby62percent;however,thefilmdidgross$1,200,216initsUSrelease. Banlieue 13 doesnotfitneatlyintotraditionalcategorieslike“commercialcinema,”“artcinema,”“Frenchcinema,”“genrecinema,”oreven“banlieue cinema.”Itfallsintotheunusualcategory“popularsocialgenrefilm.”Intheend,itmaybereductive.Thegovernmentofficialsaresimplisticvillains,andwearetoldthatthewallwillcomedown.Thebanlieue residentsgobacktothebanlieue;thecopgoesbacktoParis;andK2,weimagine,goesbacktosellingdrugs.Buteveninitsfailureoritsinadequacy, Banlieue 13 remains an interesting example, or unfulfilled desire, of what a Frenchgenre cinemamight be: an internationally successful popular cinemawith a socialconsciencethatanchorsyetdisturbsitsFrenchness. Thesequel,Banlieue 13: Ultimatum,preservesboththeutopianismandthedidacticexemplarityof theoriginal.If theoriginalB13wasafableaboutthelimitsof gang-sterism, thesequel focusesmoreonunitywithinaraciallydividedbanlieue and on cooperationbetweenthepoliticaleliteandthebanlieue residents.Thetwoprincipalactorsreturnedforthesequel,butBessonhiredadifferentdirector.PatrickAlessan-drinfirstinternedwithBessononLe dernier combat (The Last Battle; LucBesson,1983),andhisdirectorialeffortspriortoB13: Ultimatumwerecomediesanddramas.WiththeB13 sequel,Bessontooksolewritercredit,whereashecameupwiththeoriginalideaforthefirstfilmbutpassedscript-writingdutiestoBibiNaceri.Thesequelperformedaboutaswellas theoriginalat theFrenchboxoffice; it sold1,106,804 ticketsoversevenweeksof release.MagnoliaPicturesagainpickeduptheUSdistributionrights,butthefilmsawaverylimitedtheatricalruninasmallnumberof cities.B13: Ultima-tumgrossedonly$36,136attheUSboxofficebeforebeingreleasedonDVD. B13: Ultimatumopensthreeyearsafterthecloseof thefirstfilm.Thegovernmentdidnotfulfillitspromisetodestroythewall.Thefilm’sfirstsequencerhymeswiththevisuallyspectacularopeningof thefirstfilm,usingafluidmovingcamerathatimitatesparkourasitmapsthearchitecturalandhumangeographyof thebanlieue.EchoingdirectorJean-PascalZadi’srecentremarkthatthebanlieueof thelate2000sandearly2010sismoreraciallysegregatedthanthatof the1990s,thesequel’sfirstimagesrevealthatB13hasbeendividedintofiveareascontrolledbyethnicorracialgangs:black,Asian,NorthAfrican,Romany,andskinhead.46Therepresentationsof thepeopleinthebanlieue wererather limitedinthefirstfilm; inthesecond,eachneighborhoodteemswithethnicallyandraciallymarkedindividualsastheymovethroughthesharedspacesof open-airmarkets,stores,trailers,andprojecthousing. Throughcleverdigitaleffects, thecameraeffortlesslymoves through thehumanmapof thebanlieue,penetrating interioraswell as exterior spaces thataremeant

45 Mazdon, France on Film, 1–4.

46 Jean-Pascal Zadi and Stéphanie Binet, “Des histoires qu’on ne voit jamais au cinéma,” Libération, June 8, 2011, http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/01012341984-des-histoires-qu-on-ne-voit-jamais-au-cinema.


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tobereservedfortheirrespectiveethnicgroups.Thecamera’sgaze isquasiethno-graphic,andthereisthesensethatthecameravisitsplaceswheretheviewerdoesnotnecessarily belong.These initial images depict the banlieue as an underdeveloped,non-WesterncountrywithinFrance’sborders.Theexoticismof theproductiondesignparadoxicallymakesthebanlieue seemlessFrenchandmoregenericallyglobalinthesensethatitisclosertotheclichédcinematicimagesof urbansqualorandtribalshan-tytownsinHollywoodspyandactionfilmfranchisesfromBondtoBournetoEthanHunt.Inthisway,thefilmpositionsthesubjectof thegazeasthosepeoplewholiveoutsidethebanlieue.Thespeedof thecamera’smovements,combinedwiththehip-hopbeatsof thesoundtrack,givethesequenceahallucinatory,oneiricquality.Therepresentationof thebanlieue intheopeningsequenceisnotrealisticinanysenseof theterm;itcorrespondsmoretoFrenchfantasiesandanxietiesabouttheculturaloth-ernessof thebanlieue.Thecamera,likethetraceur,overcomestheobstaclesthatwoulddemarcatethespaceof thebanlieue.Theopeningsequence’svisualpaththroughthebanlieue putsthesespacesintorelationwithoneanotherandprefiguresthegangunitythatendsthefilm.AsinthefirstBanlieue 13 film,thebanlieue residents here will turn outtobebetterdefendersof Frenchrepublicanvaluesthanthosewholiveontheothersideof thewall. Thecameramovementsintheopeningsequenceareinseparablefromtheideologi-calmeaningsof parkour,andtheyonceagainanchorthefilminthetraditionof Frenchuniversalism.BessonandAlessandrinreturntothenarrativestructureof La haine in orientingthedramaticconflictof thefilmtowardastandoff betweenthepoliceandthebanlieueresidents.Amultinationalconglomerate,conspicuouslynamedHarriburton,haspaidoff theFrenchchief of special services,WalterGrossman, toconvince thepresidenttorazethebanlieuesothatanewmiddle-andupper-classneighborhoodcanberebuilt,completewithhigh-riseapartmentbuildingstoreplacetheprojecthousing.The focusof the secondfilm is lesson lawandorderandmoreoneconomicsandthepoliticsof humanitarianaid.DamienremarksthatthisconspiracyrepresentsthefirsttimethattheIraqandAfghanistandestruction-reconstructionmodelof economicdevelopmenthasbeenattemptedinFrance.Intheend,thefivegangsrallyaroundanotionof banlieue solidarityandexposeGrossman’splantothepresident. Thetwistattheendof thefilmdisplaysthesameutopianorientationof thefirstfilm.Following thedispatchof Grossman,ahumbledpresidentpromisesmoreaidmoneyforthebanlieue.Leïtorefuses,arguingthatthepatchworkof aidmoneydoesnotgetattherealproblem.Instead,heproposesthattheycarryouttheplantolevelB13inordertostartfromscratchandbuild“greenspaces”andjobs.Aftersomehesi-tation,thepresidentagreestogivetheorder.Inthefinalscene,Damien,Leïto, thepresident,andthegangleaderssitaroundatablesmokingcigars.Thepresidentasksthemif theyknowJeanNouvel, thefamousFrencharchitect.Theydonot,butthereferenceinsertsthefilmintothecontextof NicolasSarkozy’sfailedplanstoremakeandmodernizeParisanditsbanlieueonamassscale,theso-calledGrandParisprojectannounced in 2008. Sarkozy got as far as soliciting and publicly debating propos-als fromarchitectsallovertheworld, includingJeanNouvel,buttheprojectstalledbecauseSarkozyrefusedtoworkwithlocalpoliticalauthorities,preferringinsteadtoimposechangesfromonhigh.Thisfinalutopianmomentof thefilm,then,suggests


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thatbanlieueresidentswantchangeasmuchaseveryoneelse,butonlywhentheyareincludedinthepoliticalprocess.

Hollywood-sur-Seine–Saint-Denis.If Besson’ssecondbanlieue fablesatirizesSar-kozy’sownplanstorebuildParis,Bessonintendshisownsymbolicmovetotheban-lieue tobecloser to thespiritof solidaritydramatized in theBanlieue 13 films.Therealizationof thisvisionhasbeenuneven,butitspopulistpretensionsareinseparablefromtheideologicalmessagesof theparkour films.Besson’sstudioprojectcameaboutinthelate1990s,whenhedecidedtomakethetransitionfromdirectingtoproduc-ing.HefirstconsideredventuringoutonhisownwhenGaumontrefusedtofundtwoof hisprojects,thefirstTaxifilmandYamakasi,bothof whichwouldgoontobecomedomestichits,andhadtheideaforCitéduCinémaduringtheproductionof The Fifth Element in1997.47Ashisteambegantoplanwheretoshoot,helearnedthatFrancedidnothaveadequatesoundstagesandfacilitiesforbigpictures,whichforcedhimtofilminEngland,despitehispreferencetospendthatmoneyinFrance.48

Besson’sEuropaCorpstudioscommencedoperationsin2000withthemodestgoalof producingtenfilmsperyear.Theoverarchinggoalwastoproduceprofitablefilmswithmass,andevenglobal,appealsothatthestudiocouldsustainitself ratherthandependonstatemoney.Vanderscheldennotesthatinfinancingitsfilms,EuropaCorprejectedthe traditional supportof state funding in favorof private fundingsourcesandbanks.49Suchachoicewasideologicalasmuchaseconomic,rejectingtheselec-tioncommittee’simplicitcodificationof whataspecificallyFrenchcinemashouldbe.Besson’s method creates an alternative economic structure to fund commercially vi-ableFrenchproductionsand internationalcoproductions.Thechange ineconomicstructureenablesashiftinthekindsof filmsmade:thoseabletocompetewithpopularHollywoodmovieswithinandoutsideFrance. Itwouldbeeasytoimagine,asdeBaecquedoes,thatEuropaCorp’smodelsimplyreplicatesHollywood’sinterestinproducingcommodities.However,Bessoninsiststhathedoesnotbelieveinorpracticethemass-productionmodelof Hollywood.Bessonsoughttheautonomyof theEuropamodeltorealizehisartisticvisionswithsufficientfreedom,money,andfacilities.50Thesevisionsareprofoundlytransnational.AsBessonexplains,“We’renottryingtoAmericanizeFrenchcinema,buttointernationalizeit.Besides,mybiggesthits, likeThe Fifth Element,workedlesswell intheUnitedStatescomparedtoelsewhere.Idirectandproduceinternationalfilms,notAmericanones.”51

47 Christophe Carrière, “Europa Corp. sur tous les fronts,” L’express, April 3, 2003, http://www.lexpress.fr/culture /cinema/europa-corp-sur-tous-les-fronts_651127.html.

48 Mehdi Chebil, “Luc Besson inaugure Hollywood-sur-Seine,” France 24, September 22, 2012, http://www .france24.com/fr/20120921-images-luc-besson-inaugure-hollywood-seine-cite-du-cinema-seine-saint-denis-photo -diaporama-studios.

49 Vanderschelden, “Luc Besson’s Ambition,” 96.

50 Maule, “‘Post-Hollywood’ Besson,” 26.

51 Thibaud Vadjoux, “Luc Besson (EuropaCorp): ‘Nous ne voulons pas américaniser le cinéma français mais l’internationaliser,’” Boursorama, June 27, 2007, http://www.boursorama.com/votreinvite/interview.phtml?num=cf3ec36ce44032d66abee2c89f902f90.


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Atthelevelof economics,internationalizingisfairlyeasytounderstand.Partof whatmakesHollywoodfinanciallyviableisthattheUnitedStatespossessesalarge-enoughdomesticaudiencetoallowfilmstorecoupmostof theinitialinvestmentbeforetheyaredistributedtointernationalmarketsandothersecondarywindows.AccordingtoHayward, this situationhasexistedat least since the1920s.52 Internationalizing,for EuropaCorp, means international coproductions, but it also means securingpresales for international distribution and television rights before green-lighting amovie.EuropaCorp’spolicyistosecure80percentof suchfundingbeforeenteringproduction,thusensuringanacceptablelevelof riskwherebyoneunderperformingfilm will not sink the studio;53 the company recently posted losses in its quarterlyearnings statements, andBesson attributeshis team’s financial struggles during thepastyearinparttothefailuretofollowthisrule.Hebeganaprocessof recapitalizationin2013butneverthelesswantstoretaincreativecontrol.Therecapitalizationispartof anattemptto furthervertically integrate thecompany,expanding into televisionproductionandevenfilmexhibition.54

In addition to funding and administrative structures, Besson also needed to source technical infrastructureandexpertise inFrance.CitéduCinéma is a collaborationamongBesson,otherFrenchmediacompanies,andtheFrenchgovernment.Muchof themoneyfortheprojectcamefromCaissedesDépôtsetConsignation,apublicbank that invests in the long-term economic future of France.55 The presence of twofilmschoolsonCité’scampusindicatestheextentof Besson’svisionforpopularand commercially viable French cinema; he hopes to shape the next generationof filmmakers, particularly those from the banlieue whomight not find a place intraditionaleducationalinstitutions. Withhisverticallyintegratedstudioandsophisticatedproductionfacilities,Bessonisattemptingtoremedywhathasrepeatedlybeenaweaknessinthehistoryof Frenchfilmproduction.AfterthegloballydominantFrenchfilmindustrywasobliterateddur-ing the FirstWorldWar, it rebuilt itself with an artisanal approach to filmmakingwithsmall,oftenfinanciallyriskyproductioncompanies.TheFrenchnewwaveturnedthisapproachintoadominantaestheticvalue.Inaddition,atdifferentmoments,theFrenchindustryfailedtosufficientlycentralizeandinvestintechnologicalinfrastruc-ture,thusleavingittopayhigherlicensingcostsfromforeigncompanies,mostnotablyduringtheearlydaysof sound.56Throughinvestmentinthetechnologicalexpertiseand infrastructure necessary to produce sophisticated cinema and other media inFrance,Bessonseekstoredressthesehistoricaloversights.Althoughheisopenlyhos-tiletotheFrenchdiscourseof culturalexceptionalism,heneverthelessappearstobe

52 Susan Hayward, French National Cinema (New York: Routledge, 1993), 26–30.

53 Vadjoux, “Luc Besson.”

54 “EuropaCorp mise sur la télé et les salles de cinéma,” Le Figaro bourse, January 13, 2013, http://bourse.lefigaro.fr /indices-actions/actu-conseils/europacorp-mise-sur-la-tele-et-les-salles-de-cinema-342426.

55 Raphaël Beaugrand, “A Paris, des studios hollywoodiens pour le 7e art,” Le point, June 12, 2009, http://www .lepoint.fr/culture/2009-06-12/a-paris-des-studios-hollywoodiens-pour-le-7e-art/249/0/352126.

56 Hayward, French National Cinema, 21.


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workingforFrenchnationalinterestsintermsof thefilmsheproducesandhisdesiretocreateFrenchinfrastructure. Ultimately,Bessonwants toprove that it ispossible to successfullynegotiate thefrontier between art and business in away that returns autonomy to French film-makingandinvertsthedirectionof influencebetweenHollywoodandEurope.57 As RosannaMauleexplains:

WithEuropa,the“post-Hollywood”Bessonisprovingthatsuccessfulmov-ies canbemadeanddistributedoutsideof theconstraintsand limitationsof Hollywood’s global control and France’s stance for cultural exception.Conceivedfromwithinanational-popularperspective, thefilmproductionanddistributioncompanytargets the internationalfilmmarketandthrivesontheideologicalinconsistenciesof France’spretensionsaboutits“cultural”specificity.58

Besson’s wide-ranging efforts, extending beyond the narrow purview of individualfilms,areinfacttypicalof aFrenchemphasisontheimportanceof culturalandar-tistic identityasafundamentaldimensionof national identity.Throughhisstudio’sstylistic and narrative choices, Besson attempts to craft a youth-culture, banlieue-inflected identity forhisfilmsandhis company.A skeptical critic for themagazineMariannearguedthatBesson’sCitéduCinémawillfallshortof itsloftysocialgoalsbutacknowledgeditasanattemptatsocialengineering.59Despitetheproject’scritics,thearticleadmits,Bessondoeshavethecommunistmayorof Saint-Denisonhisside.60 Regardlessof howoneviewsCitéduCinéma’slargerimplications,Besson’svariousinitiativesillustratetheextenttowhichhisvisionforFrenchmediainthetwenty-firstcenturyispolitical,ideological,andeconomic,withadifferentvisionof Frenchsocietyandcultureatitscore. Forthesereasons,wecannotseparateFrenchgenrefilmsfromBesson’sbroaderso-cialandeconomicstrategy.Besson’svisionforanalternativeFrenchcinemaisinextrica-blylinkedtothespaceandcultureof theFrenchbanlieue,anditinformsFrenchgenrepictures thathedidnotdirectorevenproduce.61Thisvision,partof thecorporatemissionof EuropaCorp,hasgraduallytakeninstitutionalandspatialformasBessonhasmovedhisoperationstotheFrenchsuburbs.Bessonpreferstocharacterizehisroleintermsof a“facilitator,”butthetermcoylyoccludeshisimportantroleinfostering


58 Ibid., 32.

59 Bénédicte Charles, “Banlieues: Luc Besson fait tout à partir de lien,” Marianne, June 26, 2009, http://www .marianne2.fr/Banlieues-Luc-Besson-fait-tout-a-partir-de-lien_a181164.html.

60 Lars-Olav Beier, “The Pariah from Paris: Luc Besson’s Cité du Cinéma to Be France’s Largest Studio,” Der Spiegel Online, October 5, 2010, http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-pariah-from-paris-luc-besson-s-cite-du -cinema-to-be-france-s-largest-studio-a-720244.html.

61 Besson describes this vision in the following terms: “I greatly admire the banlieue. Today, the most creative place in France is the banlieue. People there are in a situation of such precariousness that they must get out. For twenty years, all stylistic and artistic innovations come from there: rap, tagging, hoodies, baggy clothes, tennis shoes, and a thousand other things. It didn’t come from the 16th [one of the richest neighborhoods in Paris] where three-quarters of young people dress like they lived in Stains [a banlieue cité in Seine–Saint-Denis].” Loustalot, “Interview Luc Besson.”


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peopleandprojects.62Withinhislargereconomicandculturalstrategy,parkouroffersavisualandnarrativestyletoelaborateaglobalFrenchbrandaroundahip,countercul-turalbanlieue identity.Besson’sinterestinthebanlieue anditsresidentsisnotjustop-portunistic.Itissincere,thoughattimesperhapsflawedormisguidedinitsexecution. Films like the twoBanlieue 13 movies treat theHollywood (andevenglobal)cin-ematic imaginary in the same way that the traceur treats urban space, as a set of constraints thatarecreatively redirected tootherends.Rather thanaccepting suchconstraintsasakindof prison,afilmlikeBanlieue 13 attemptstofindawaytomovethroughthem,tomakethemexpressiveof uniquelyGallicsocialandpoliticalcon-cernswithinthelanguageof commercialentertainment.Asdoesparkour,Banlieue 13 winds its way through the traditional notions of French cinema, French funding struc-tures,andAmericanculturalhegemonytocreateanexampleof cinematicbricolage thatstandsinforBesson’sbroaderculturalstrategyasawhole.

Beyond Besson. Thecombinationof thespaceof thebanlieue andthemoralizingaspectsof EuropaCorp’sthreeparkour filmssignalsthebroadersocialandculturalam-bitionsof EuropaCorp’semphasisoncommercialfilmmaking.WithCitéduCinéma,Bessonseeksnotonlytobringtheeconomicbenefitsof big-budgetproductionstothebanlieuebutalsotooffermarginalizedlocal youthself-recognitionandevenself-expres-sion.ItisthislargersocialandculturalvisionthathasinspiredimitatorsbothwithinBesson’simmediatecircleandinabroaderFrenchcontext.Whiletheseotherfilmsdonotallfeatureliteralrepresentationsof parkour andwerenotallproducedbyBesson, theyrepresentexamplesof themorefigurativeunderstandingof parkour Ihavebeentracinginthisessay.ThefilmmakersinquestionallseektocreateaFrenchpopularstylethroughanengagementwithAmericangenreformulaeandthespaceof thebanlieue. Of course, the alignment of popular genreswith the problems of the banlieuedoesnotalwaysworkoutas felicitously in theB13 films.PierreMorel’s thirdpost-B13EuropaCorpfilm,From Paris with Love (2010),representsanattempttoalignthepoliticsof productionwiththepoliticsof style.Thefilmfeaturesaspecialagent( John Travolta)andanembassyassistant( JonathanRhysMeyers)whouncoveraterroristplottobombanAfricantradesummitinParis.Oneshortexteriorsequencedoestakeplaceinthebanlieue,butthefilm’s“Frenchness”consistsof acollectionof AmericanclichésandstereotypesaboutFrenchculture.Thetriptothebanlieueisacaseinpoint.Whenthetwoprotagonistsarrive,Travolta’scharacterremarksthatthisramshackleplaceisnotinanyof theParisguidebooks.Thebanlieueismoreapartof thefilm’sproductionmythologythanof itsnarrative.UnlikeBanlieue 13 and Banlieue 13: Ulti-matum,whichwereshotinRomaniaandSerbia,respectively,From Paris with Love was supposedtobeshotintheParisianbanlieue at the Cité des Bosquets de Montfermeil in Seine–Saint-Denis,oneof theepicentersof the2005riots.63Atthetime,Europa-Corp’spublicitycampaign,pickedupinFrenchpresscoverage,focusedonhowtwo


63 “Des voitures brûlées privent Montfermeil de Travolta et de Besson,” Le Figaro, October 14, 2008, http://www.le figaro.fr/actualite-france/2008/10/14/01016-20081014ARTFIG00534-des-voitures-brulees-privent-montfermeil -de-travolta-et-de-besson-.php.


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bigHollywoodstars,JohnTravoltaandJonathanRhysMeyers,werecomingtotheFrenchbanlieue.64Whentenvehiclesweretorchedtheweekbeforethefilmwastobeginprincipalphotography,Bessonhaltedproduction,angeringlocalresidentswhoweresupposedtoappearasextras.Heeventuallymovedthefilmtoamoresecurepartof theParisianperiphery,Poissy,inthenorthwesternbanlieue. OutsideEuropaCorp, thereareotherdirectorsandproducersworking inFrancetodaywhoattempttofuseAmericangenreformulaswithaninterestinthesocialprob-lems of the French banlieue.AudreyEstrougo,ayoungfilmmakerwhogrewuppar-tiallyinthebanlieue,firstcametoprominencewhenshemadeRegarde-moi (Ain’t Scared )in2007attheageof twenty-three.Herdirectorialdebutwasamoretypicalbanlieue filminthesensethatitevincedthehard-hittingviolencetypicalof male-centereden-triesinthegenre.However,Estrougodidtransformsomeof thesetropesbydisplacingthemontoyoungbanlieuewomen.65OlivierDelboscandMarcMissonnieof FidelitéFilmsthenapproachedheraboutdoingamusicalcomedy.EstrougohadalreadybeenworkingonascriptaboutundocumentedworkersinParisandagreedtomakethefilmonlyif itcouldbeabanlieue musical;shewasspecificallyinterestedinusingthegenrebecauseitwouldallowhertotalkaboutaserioustopicwithalightertoneaccessibletoawideaudience.66

Toi, moi, les autres (You, Me, and the Others; Audrey Estrougo, 2010) tells the storyof Leïla (LeïlaBekhti), a struggling law student froman ethnically diverseParisianworking-classneighborhood,andGabriel(BenjaminSiskouof Nouvelle Starfame:M6,2003–2010;D8,2012–present),thelazysonof arichandprominentpolicecommis-sioner.ThetwomeetwhenadrunkGabrielrunsoverLeïla’syoungerbrotherwithhisMercedes.ThroughthepredictableromancewithLeïlathatensues,Gabrielreachesapoliticalawarenessof theplightof undocumentedworkersinParis.Unlikeotheren-triesinthebanlieuegenrethatemployhip-hoporrap-themedsoundtracks,EstrougochosetoupdateclassicFrenchstandardsinthemodeof theAmericantelevisionseriesGlee (Fox,2009–present).Itisrevealingthattheendof thefilmabruptlyshiftstoadocu-mentarymode, interweaving televisedcoverageof protestsagainstdeportationwiththefilm’snarrativeresolutioninwhichGabrielandLeïlapreventthedeportationof afriend.Thejarringjuxtapositionof modesrevealshowEstrougorefusestoallowthesocialissuesof thebanlieue todisappearbehindthegenreconventionsof themusical. Two recenthorror entries,XavierGens’Frontière(s) (2007) forEuropaCorp, andYannickDahanandBenjaminRocher’sLa horde (The Horde,2009)forCapturetheFlagFilms,marryclassicslasher-revengeandzombieapocalypseformulaswiththeFrenchbanlieue.Whilemanyof thefilmsdiscussedhere,includingtheB13 movies, were not commercialsuccessesintheatricalreleaseoutsideFrancebecauseof thelanguageandsubtitlingbarrier,theybecameculthitsoninternationalDVDrelease.Frenchhorrorisparticularlyrevealinginthisregard.AsproducerVincentMaravalexplains,French

64 “Montfermeil privé de Besson et Travolta?,” L’express, October 14, 2008, http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe /montfermeil-prive-de-besson-et-travolta_590436.html.

65 Estrougo’s film shares the combination of violence and banlieue women with the 2001 film La squale, produced by EuropaCorp and directed by Fabrice Genestal.

66 “Toi, moi, les autres” : Interview d’Audrey Estrougo, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh5zpo_toi-moi-et-les-autres -interview-d-audrey-estrougo_shortfilms.


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horrorfilms,despiteperformingabysmallyintheFrenchdomesticboxoffice,aremoreprofitablethanFrenchauteuristfilms,dramas,orcomediesbecausetheydosowellonDVDglobalrelease.67

Inaddition tobeinga response toHollywoodhorrorfilms likeHostel (Eli Roth, 2005)andSaw ( JamesWan,2004),Frontière(s)reactstoextreme-right-wing Jean-Marie LePen’s advancement to the second round of the 2002 presidential elections andNicolasSarkozy’srough-and-tumblepersonaasministerof the interior inthemid-2000s.Thefilmopensbyintercuttingdocumentaryfootageof banlieue riots with a freneticconflictbetweencopsandtheprotagonists.Thelatterhavestolenmoneyandplantofleethebanlieue totheBelgianborder.Thefilmrepeatedlyreferstoaright-wingministerof theinteriorbeingelectedpresident,thesupposedcauseof theriots.Onthewaytotheborder, thecharactersstopinasmall, isolated,ruralhostelonlytofindtheentireregioncontrolledbyaNazifamilywhobutcherthemonebyone.Unlike thecity-countrydivide inAmericanhorror that,according toCarolClover,turnsaroundsocialclass,thecountry-banlieuegapinFrontière(s)isstructuredbytheinterrelationsbetweenraceandnationalidentity.68 La horde’sshamblingzombies,bycontrast, tapintofearsaboutthepotentialpoliticalpowerof riotingbanlieue residents.Gangstersandcopsinthefilmjoinforcestorepelthezombiesduringaclassicnight-time standoff ina rent-controlledhousingproject.Violence, rather thanconsumerculture,beginsandperpetuatesthezombificationof thebanlieue,thussuggestingthatthecycleof revengeonlyresultsinwidespreaddeath. GéraldineNakacheandHervéMimran’sfirstfilmasdirectorsandwriters,Tout ce qui brille (All That Glitters, 2011),focusesontwoyoungbanlieuewomenwhogrewupreadingaboutnightclubs,globalfashiontrends,dancestyles,andglamorouscity-centerlifeinwomen’smagazines.Thefilmtrackstheirattemptstopassassophisticated,well-to-dourban socialites.Muchof thehumor in thefilmarises from their spectacularfailures;itseemsthattherichParisiansmarkthemimmediatelyandpushthemtowardmoretraditionalrolesforbanlieue women,likethenannyortheexoticseductress.Tout ce qui brille reworksmanyof theconventionsof Americanromanticcomedies,“chickflicks,”andfemalefriendshipfilmsbutinacriticalmode.Theshoppingorgiestypicalof suchfilmshereemphasizetheinaccessibilityof clothesandmoney.Intheend,thefriendshipbetweenthetwowomenwinsoutbecausebothfindaplaceinParisratherthanthebanlieue,butnotnecessarilytheplacetheyimaginedatthebeginningof thefilm. Thefilmwas anunexpectedhit inFrance, selling 1,421,606 tickets over fifteenweeks.ItwasalsothefilmthatmadeLeïlaBekhtiastar.Itwasnotdistributedtheatri-callyintheUnitedStates,thoughaversionof thefilmwithEnglishlanguagesubtitlesisavailable.GéraldineNakachedownplaystheimportanceof thebanlieueforAll That Glitters in interviews,butaswe sawwithBanlieue 13, this isacommonpromotionalstrategy,intendedtoavoidscaringoff potentialaudiences.NakacheandMimrando

67 Xavier Sayanoff and Tristan Schulmann, Viande d’origine française, DailyMotion video, Empreinte Digitale, 2009, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqc9yp_viande-d-origine-francaise-full_shortfilms.

68 Carol J. Clover, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer-sity Press, 1993), 124–131.


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stress that theywanted to contest themore violent imagesof thebanlieueand in-ner cities found in American and French movies; however, the way they do this is no lesssteepedinAmericancinema.Theysimplychoosedifferent,lessviolentAmericangenrestoreworkforaFrenchcontext.69

Géraldine’sbrother,OlivierNakache,andhiswritinganddirectingpartner,EricToledano, have alsoworked at the border between French andAmerican cinema,thoughtheirpreferredgenreiscomedy.Whiletheirthirdfilm,Tellement proches (So Close, 2009), deals to some extentwith the banlieue, itwas not exported outsideFrance.Intheirfourthfilm,Les intouchables (The Intouchables, 2011),theymanagedtocalibratetheirfilminsuchawaythatittouchedonwhattheycallthe“warsintheprojects”inFrance,buttheirrepresentationof ghettosremainedgenericenoughthattheywerecomprehensibleabroad.70LiketheB13films,Les intouchablesisabuddyfilmthatpairsanupper-classFrenchquadriplegicwithhislessrefinedbanlieuecaretaker.WhilethecaretakerDriss’soriginsinthebanlieuearevisuallyandnarrativelymarkedinthefilm,theyarealsocomprehensibleforAmericanaudiencesaspossiblerepresentationsof arecognizableinnercity.Indeed,thefilm’ssourcematerial,amemoir,revealsthereal-lifemodelforDrisstobeaFrenchmanof Moroccandescent.71ToledanoandNakachejustifiedtheirchoicetocasttheblackactorOmarSyintherolebecauseof theirlong-standingworkingrelationshipwithhim.72TheyalsoarguedthatracedoesnotmatterintheFrenchbanlieue.73

However, staging the class conflict in the film through a black-and-white racialdichotomymakesthefilmabletotravel,particularlytotheUnitedStates.AsMaulesuggested,themostsuccessfultransnationalfilmsarethosethatsignifyinlocalwaysfor differentmarkets. Indeed, both the significant financial success of thefilmandthehostilityof someAmericancriticstothefilm’sracialstereotypingprovethatthechoicepaidoff.HarveyWeinstein’scompanydistributedthefilmintheUnitedStates,whereitultimatelygrossed$10,198,820.Itwaseven,foratime,thoughtof asapos-sibleOscarcontender,like2011’sThe Artist (directedbyMichelHazanavicius).Onaworldwide scale, Les intouchableswasthemostprofitablenon-English-languagefilminhistoryasof January2013,74withBoxoffice.comlistingworldwideprofitsatcloseto$500million.Thefilm is remarkablepreciselybecause itbroke the subtitlebarrierthatoftenpreventsforeign-languagefilmsfromperformingwellonAmericanscreens.

69 Interview: Géraldine Nakache et Hervé Mimran—Tout ce qui brille, YouTube video, MyFrenchFilmFestival, February 7, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrm7nuk_mQo&feature=youtube_gdata_player.

70 Intouchables—Interview Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano (Canal +), http://www.canalplus.fr/c-cinema/c-les-films-en -salles/cid460501-intouchables.html?vid=539439.

71 Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, Le second souffle (Paris: Bayard, 2012).

72 “Interview with Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, the Directors of Untouchable,” Digital Fix, http://film.the digitalfix.com/content/id/75995/interview-with-eric-toledano-and-olivier-nakache-directors-of-untouchable.html.

73 “Untouchable Directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano Interview,” Filmoria, http://www.filmoria.co.uk/2012/09 /untouchable-directors-olivier-nakache-and-eric-toledano-interview/; Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, “An In-touchable World?,” Huffington Post, May 7, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-toledano-and-olivier-nakache /an-intouchable-world_b_1497787.html.

74 “Intouchables, film non-anglophone le plus rentable au monde,” Libération, March 23, 2012, http://next.lib eration.fr/cinema/01012397886-intouchables-film-non-anglophone-le-plus-rentable-au-monde.


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WithinFrance,NakacheandToledano’sfilmearnedthenumbertwospot formostsuccessfulFrenchfilmof alltimeattheFrenchboxoffice,selling19,440,920ticketsover twenty-eightweeks.Les intouchables represents thebiggestpopularandfinancialsuccessbothinFranceandabroadof thepopulistmodelof FrenchfilmmakingIhavebeentracingthroughBessonandparkour. While these films represent a small corpus in an otherwise robust national filmeconomy(Francelikestoboastthatitproducesaround220filmsperyear),theynev-erthelessindicateadifferentkindof relationshiptoFrance’sownnationalcultureandfilmhistory.Francehashistoricallyarguedtotherestof theworldthatitscultureisex-ceptionalanddeservesprotectionfromfree-marketforces.Internally,however,itdoesnotaffordthesameprotectionstoeverytypeof Frenchcinema,effectivelypolicingwhatdoesanddoesnotcountasproperly“French”throughfundingstructures,dis-tributionchannels,andcriticalreception.ThesepressureshaveproducedrigidideasaboutwhatFrenchcinema shouldbeandhave fosteredadefensivementalitywithrespect toglobal formsof commercialfilmmaking.Besson’s strategiesover thepastdecadehaveoftenbeenmisunderstoodasanattempttoimportaHollywood-inspired,commercial,and industrialmodel intoFranceandthusdestroywhatmakesFrenchfilmmakingproperlyFrench.Thismisrecognitionistheresultof France’slong-stand-ingdistasteforpopularandindustrialmodesof production.Ironically,Besson’sbrandof commercialfilmmakingsignifieswithinFranceakindof independent,marginal-izedcinemadespiteitsbig-budget,profit-motivatedorientation. However,Besson’sfilms,studio,andCitéduCinémarepresentaspecificallyFrenchmodeof culturalpolitics, one that seeks to create the institutional conditions for apopularandcommercialmodeof filmmaking thatdefends, in itsway, thenationalspecificityof Frenchcinema.Inthesamewaythattheculturaldiversityof theFrenchbanlieuecontestsnarrowconceptionsof whatitmeanstobeFrench,Besson,throughhiscompaniesandhisfilms,harnesses this space toexpandwhatFrenchcinema isorshouldbe.Itisdifficulttoidentifythisconfidentlyasafull-blownindustrialtrend,yetasIhaveshown,severalfilmsof thepastdecadeareharbingersof ashift.RatherthandefendinganauthenticallyartisanalFrenchcinemaasthepurenegationof theindustrialHollywoodmodel, thesefilmsandfilmmakers trace singularandcompli-catedpaths through thevariousculturalandeconomic forcesactingon theFrenchfilmindustry,muchlikethetraceurs whocaughtBesson’simaginationinthelate1990s.Besson’sproducingactivitiessuggestthatonewaytodefendtheFrenchnessof Frenchmediaagainstforeigncompetitionisnottofallbackonhistoricalmodelsof culturalprestigebuttoseehowpopularglobalfilmformulaslookinandfromFrance. ✽

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Maggie Flinn, Dan Morgan, Stacey Triplette, and two anonymous Cinema Journal readers for their helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this piece.

American Genre Film in the French Banlieue: Luc Besson and Parkour

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