La Squale

‘La Squale’, which roughly translates as a girl delinquent, is Désirée, a recent arrival at a ghetto school looking to set a ‘rep’ for herself. She is abetted by her belief that she is the daughter of the former legendary gang lord Souleymane, who disappeared years ago.

Désirée sets her sights on Toussaint, a local hoodlum whose shockingly violent nature would appear to attract rather than repel her. Eventually, however, Désirée will have to face her familial past and choose her way of life for the future.

Released in 2000, Fabrice Genestal’s film follows in the footsteps of numerous films, such as Kassovitz’s La Haine or Richet’s Ma 6-T va cracker, which explore the systematic violence embedded within France’s deprived suburban ghettos. However, La Squale changes tack somewhat in its focus on the schools in these areas and the shocking violence perpetrated by certain pupils, as witnessed in the gang rape that opens the film.

Inspired by the knowledge and experiences of a headmistress, La Squale points to Abdellatif Kechiche’s 2004 success L’Esquive and Laurent Cantet’s recent Palme D’or winner The Class (also based on the account of a school teacher), as a film which brings to the fore the bursting energy of a society’s neglected youth.