A Prophet

"Escaping the prison of life."

2009 2h 35m FR

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🔥

96%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.8

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 1,793🍅96%Rotten Tomatoes●90Metacritic★7.8IMDB · 107,123

CrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

“Escaping the prison of life.”

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Cast

Tahar Rahim
Malik El Djebena
Niels Arestrup
César Luciani
Adel Bencherif
Ryad
Reda Kateb
Jordi
Hichem Yacoubi
Reyeb
Jean-Philippe Ricci
Vettori
Gilles Cohen
Prof
Pierre Leccia
Sampierro

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jacques Audiard
Writers: Thomas Bidegain, Jacques Audiard, Abdel Raouf Dafri
Languages: Arabic, Corsican, French
Countries: France, Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 155 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Arabic, Corsican, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jacques Audiard, shot by Stéphane Fontaine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alexandre Desplat. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Juliette Welfling shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup and Adel Bencherif carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jacques Audiard directs. Stéphane Fontaine behind the camera. Alexandre Desplat scores. Juliette Welfling cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in France, Italy. Dialogue in Arabic, Corsican, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 155 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Released 17 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Arabic, Corsican, French.
4International production across 2 countries: France, Italy.
5Directed by Jacques Audiard, shot by Stéphane Fontaine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Alexandre Desplat. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Juliette Welfling shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Tahar Rahim and Niels Arestrup and Adel Bencherif carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Escaping the prison of life.".
10IMDB entry: tt1235166 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 18 themes, including "prison", "muslim", "gangster", "arabian".
12Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Stéphane Fontaine
Original score: Alexandre Desplat
Editing: Juliette Welfling
Production design: Michel Barthélémy
Costume design: Virginie Montel
Makeup / hair: Laurence Boulet
VFX supervisor: Martial Vallanchon
Sound: Marc Doisne
Runtime: 155 min · 2h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $13,000,000
Box office: $17,874,044
Return: 137% of budget
Original language: FR
Certification (US): R
IMDB: A Prophet (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes: 96% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 90/100
IMDB rating: 7.8/10 · 107,123 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 52 wins & 57 nominations total

International Cinephile Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
International Cinephile Society Award for Best Director
International Cinephile Society Award for Best Film
European Film Academy Prix d'Excellence
BIFA for Best Foreign Independent Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language
National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film
European Film Award for Best Actor
César Award for Best Actor
César Award for Best Editing

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Jacques Audiard

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-11-07
★ 9/10
Great movie in all aspects; great story and script, great cast and great performances. One of the best movies I've watched lately.
CinemaSerf2024-04-20
★ 7/10
Tahar Rahim is really good in the dark, gritty and vicious prison drama. His character - "Mailk" is an illiterate eighteen year old who is sent to jail for six years for attacking a police officler. One inside, he has little protection but the clothes he stands up in. The place is governed by "Luciani" (Niels Arestrup). He's a man of Corsican descent who has twenty or so hoodlums to do his bidding and the guards in his pocket. It's the Arabs who are causing him some chagrin so he alights on the newbie to be his instrument of murder. Initially terrified and reluctant, it's soon clear that a choice isn't on his list of options. Do this, though, and he will be protected and, well, alive. He elects on the survival path and becomes gradually more riled upon by his boss whilst learning to read from his friend "Ryad" (Adel Bencherif). By half way through his sentence, he has grown in confidence, is trusted with more "delicate" tasks and even gets the odd day's leave in the outside world. As the demographic of the inmates changes, it falls to both him and "Luciani" to adapt - and that's quite a challenge. Now it is a bit long, and takes a while to get up an head of steam, but once we know who's who and likely to betray or kill the other this developer into a tautly directed and compelling story that doesn't shirk from conveying the epitome of a dog-eat-dog environment. Arestrup also delivers really strongly here as the man with the power who slowly realises that change is not his forté, not is patience nor any likelihood of release looming. It's a little predicable, but gives us a rough ride that conveys criminal and cultural clashes with an earthy plausibility and it whizzed by.