Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009) - Searing performances in Audiard's disheartening prison thriller

8/21/2023

A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009) - Searing performances in Audiard's disheartening prison thriller

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Crime Thriller of the Year + Best French Movie of the Year + Best Gangster Movie of the Year + Best Prison Movie of the Year

A gun-toting Tahar Rahim looks dangerous on this rather stressful poster for Jacques Audiard's A Prophet

Just 19 years old and of Algerian background, our protagonist Malik gets a 6-year prison sentence, and soon after his incarceration he is given a fearsome task: Committing a murder.

A Prophet is written by Thomas Bidegain (Stillwater (2021)), Abdel Raouf Dafri (Gibraltar (2013)), Nicolas Peufaillit (Sous X (2015)) and co-writer/director Jacques Audiard (See How They Fall/Regarde les Hommes Tomber (1994)). The English title is a literal translation of the original French title.

Horrible, realistic and intense, the first half of Audiard's celebrated prison thriller also leaves space for glimpses of the internal lives for its criminal elements, - and A Prophet has the year's best/most horrific murder scene (murder by razorblade.) There are grand performances from Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian (2021)) in the lead and from Niels Arestrup (At Eternity's Gate (2018)) as the merciless Corsican gangster boss who takes him under his wing in prison.

SPOILER The ending is somewhat unsatisfactory, as one after such an epic sojourn longs for something more finished, and possibly hopeful, than what we are dealt here. Instead our hero ends up a criminal leader himself, which is more than a bit disheartening, especially held up against the film's title. Despite the strong performances and visual power (the cinematography is by Stéphane Fontaine (Samba (2014))), the deeper meaning of this expansive work remains unclear, except for the fact that it inevitably gives insight into the French underworld and the country's massive problems with criminal immigrants.

Jacques Audiard: Rust and Bone/De Rouille et d'Os (2012) - Cotillard gives another awe-inspiring performance

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a one-minute clip from the film's Cannes red carpet premiere here

Cost: 13 mil. $

Box office: 17.8 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.36 times its cost)

[A Prophet premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 155 minutes. At least 17 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and making of the film. Shooting took place in Paris, France. The film opened #34 to a 163k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #25 and in 83 theaters (different weeks), grossing 2 mil. $ (11.2 % of the total gross). France was the film's biggest market with 10.3 mil. $ (57.9 %); North America was the 2nd biggest, and UK was the 3rd biggest with 1.5 mil. $ (8.4 %). The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, lost to The Secret in Their Eyes/El Secreto de Sus Ojos from Argentina. It won a BAFTA, was nominated for a Goya, was nominated for a Golden Globe, won 9/13 César award nominations, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won a National Board of Review award, the Jury Prize at Cannes (the Palme d'Or was lost to Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon), won 2/6 European Film award nominations, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Audiard returned with Raphaël Live Vu Par Jazques Audiard (2011, video) and theatrically with Rust and Bone/De Rouille et d'Os (2012). Rahim returned in You Never Left (2010, short) and theatrically in The Eagle (2011); Arestrup in Suite Noire (2009, TV-series) and theatrically in Farewell/L'Affaire Farewell (2009). A Prophet is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

8/21/2023

A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009) - Searing performances in Audiard's disheartening prison thriller

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

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