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

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+ 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. 

Related post:

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.]

What do you think of A Prophet?

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

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A sensual, strong poster for Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone

 

A crude single father arrives to a coastal city in France with his son and gets a job as a bouncer in a nightclub, where he meets a beautiful woman in distress, who later loses both of her legs in an Orca accident.

Co-writer-director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009)) continues his style of telling different stories about underclass people we otherwise rarely meet on the big screen, and he once again strikes with a very corporeal tale with a couple of scenes of ugly violence. SPOILER - One of them involves the father and his son, and I found it very hard not to lose all sympathy for the gorilla-like man (played intensely by Matthias Schoenaerts (The Danish Girl (2015))) here. Moreover, Schoenaerts yells the little, crying boy in the head, and I couldn't help but wonder how (or if) they shot that in an ethically defensible way. (I have since read that Audiard deemed this the film's hardest scene to shoot and that the boy knew he would be yelled at but still started crying for real, which is what is now in the film.)

Schoenaerts has a primitive intensity, but it is Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose/La Môme (2007)) who is the center of the film, and she is absolutely stunning, completely melted together with her character and deeply moving in certain scenes, SPOILER especially those in which she overcomes her handicap.

Audiard co-wrote Rust and Bone with Thomas Bidegain (Dheepan (2015)), based on a same-titled 2005 short story by Craig Davidson (The Fighter (2008)). It is a raw film presented without much sugar; it goes for the jugular and should especially be seen for Cotillard's hypnotizing performance.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 15.4 €, equal to approximately 20 mil. $

Box office: 25.7 mil. $

= Big flop

[Rust and Bone premiered May 17 (Cannes) and runs 123 minutes. Cotillard is an animal activist and fiercely against marine parks. Still she spend a week preparing for her role in a marine park, whereas Schoenaerts practised MMA and gained weight. The film came together as a co-production of no less than 17 companies and institutions. Filming took place in 8 weeks in France and Belgium from October - November 2011. The film opened #56 in 2 theaters to a 27k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked in 168 theaters and grossed 2 mil. $ (7.8 % of the total gross), the film's second biggest market. Its biggest market by far was its native France with 14.5 mil. $ (56.4 %). The 3rd biggest was Germany with 1.5 mil. $ (5.8 %). The film lost the Palm d'Or to Michael Haneke's Amour. It was nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 9 Césars (France's Oscar, winning 4) and numerous other awards. Roger Ebert added the film to his Great Films list. Rust and Bone is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Rust and Bone?