Fierrot le pou (1990)
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz

Film Review

Even in this, his first film (a modest short running to just eight minutes in length), director Mathieu Kassovitz shows considerable flair and artistry, revealing the talent that would, just half a decade later, unleash the powerful urban drama La Haine (1995) on an unsuspecting cinema audience. The film derives its humorous title Fierrot le pou from Jean-Luc Godard's famous film Pierrot le fou (1965). Filmed in gorgeous black and white with some striking camera effects, this quirky first film looks like La Haine in embryo form - it is the inconsequential louse that would soon grow up to be one of the most important French films of the 1990s.

As well as conceiving and directing the film, Kassovitz also plays the lead role, a gump-like wimp who tries to impress the girl he fancies with his non-existent basketball skills. Kassovitz may not be particularly funny in the role but he has an endearing child-like innocence that other filmmakers would take full advantage of in later years, most notably Jacques Audiard in Regarde les hommes tomber (1994) and Un héros très discret (1996). Just before his acting career took off and made him a star, Kassovitz made his feature debut as a director with Métisse (1993). Had this promising feature not attracted the attention of the critics La Haine may never have come into being.

Film Synopsis

In an empty gymnasium, a spindly young man with spectacles tries repeatedly to get a basketball into the net, but fails every time.  He clearly has no aptitude for the sport, but he perseveres.  A young black woman then turns up and starts her basketball training on the other side of the gym, netting the ball every time she throws it.  Impressed, the young man clumsily rips off his tracksuit bottoms and resumes his futile attempts to net his ball in his shorts.  Disheartened by his failure the man takes a break and lets his imagination give him the victory he so desperately craves...