‘avant La Haine’ – Alex Beaupain & Camelia Jordana

‘Avant La Haine’ is a French song by Alex Beaupain and Camélia Jordana that was a major hit when it was released in 2006 as part of the film ‘Dans Paris’. This song is a smooth yet moving number about a heart-breaking love story between the couple. The song was a major hit when it was re-released on Beaupain’s 2011 album that was named after the song, ‘Avant La Haine’.

The music video, which is from the film itself, is what really makes this song unique. Directed by Christophe Honoré, the video uses freeze-frame camera shots as well as regular tracking shots to highlight the state of the relationship between the two protagonists. Although their relationship seems to be on the verge of falling apart, it somehow resists this disintegration by constant camera movements.

In the film, the couple is played by Romain Duris and Joana Preiss who wonderfully capture the pained emotion of the song.

Discover more French music HERE.

Lyrics

Sais-tu ma belle
Que les amours
Les plus brillantes ternissent?
Le sale soleil, du jour le jour,
Les soumet au supplice.
J’ai une idée inattaquable,
Pour éviter l’insupportable.

[CHORUS]
Avant la haine,
Avant les coups,
De sifflet ou de fouet.
Avant la peine,
Et le dégoût,
Brisons la, s’il te plaît.

Non, je t’embrasse,
Et ça passe.
Tu vois bien,
On se débarrasse pas d’moi comme ça.

Tu croyais
Pouvoir t’en sortir,
En me quittant sur l’air
Du grand amour qui doit mourir.
Mais, vois-tu, je préfère
Les tempêtes de l’inéluctable,
A ta petite idée minable.

[CHORUS]

Je pourrai t’éviter le pire.
Mais le meilleur est à venir.

[CHORUS]

English Translation

Do you know, my pretty one,
that even the brightest
loves lose their spark?
Day by day, the dirty sun
torments them.
I’ve got an unshakeable idea
to avoid the unbearable.
[CHORUS]

Before the hatred,
before the blows,
be they from whistles or whips.
Before the sorrow
and weariness,
Let’s end it, please.
No, I kiss you
and (the feeling) disappears.
See,
I’m not so easy to get rid of.
You thought
you could get away with it
leaving me up in the air
of the true love that must die.
But, you see, I prefer
the storms of the inevitable better
than your pathetic little idea.
[CHORUS]
I could spare you the worst,
but the best is yet to come.

[CHORUS]