A Prophet
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: February 26, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
90
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Why do we care? Because never before have the steps to thugdom, as depressing as that destination may be, been so rigorously detailed, neither romanticized nor negated. Don’t miss. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There's also no romanticizing on the part of the director, who proceeds with calm, unshowy attentiveness (even in the midst of scenes of violence), creating a stunning portrait of an innately smart survivor for whom prison turns out to be a twisted opportunity for self-definition. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJohn Anderson
Uncompromising in its style, story and characterizations. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
To borrow a marketing phrase from another, very different film, A Prophet really is the movie that reminds you why you love the movies. Especially movies like this one. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
One of those rare films in which the moral stakes are as insistent and thought through as the aesthetic choices. Read full review
100
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A new crime classic. Read full review
100
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It's a highly original film made in a familiar context, and an exciting moviegoing experience you shouldn't miss. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The best performance in the film is by Arestrup as Cesar. You may remember him from Audiard's "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" (2005), where he played a seedy but confident father who psychically overshadows his son. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)James Adams
One caveat: At the risk of sounding sexist, let me say A Prophet is an unreservedly male film. Female characters are few and far between, and when they do appear, they pretty much fall into either one of two categories – les mamans ou les putains. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
If Malik doesn't remind you of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone on his journey from innocence to corruption in "The Godfather" saga, well . . . he should. A Prophet is similarly, startlingly momentous. Read full review
100
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A Prophet is the kind of film that makes you remember why going to the movies can be a thrilling experience. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin Wilson
Essential viewing for art-film buffs and crime-flick fans, but also for anyone who's looking for a great story, terrific acting and masterful filmmaking. Read full review
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
More than anything else, however, director Jacques Audiard's gritty, grab-you-by-the-shirtfront film is a mob movie -- a really, really good mob movie. Think "GoodFellas," but with Gauloises and accent aigu instead of plates of spaghetti and accent Pesci. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
A Prophet has been compared to American TV series like "Oz" for its episodic plot and large cast, but it’s more like a Gallic "Goodfellas": thoroughly absorbing, exciting, even poetic. It’s a full evening’s entertainment. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Long and sometimes grueling, but it never feels indulgent or excessive. In order to be subtle about the horrifying transformation he records, Audiard needs to let it unfold slowly, so that only when we reach the end can we see Malik as a new man who has come unimaginably -- and terribly -- far. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A Prophet pushes its protagonist into circumstances he did not choose but in which he watches and learns and kills and eventually becomes all he can be, albeit criminally. Certainly Muslims living in France have embraced the movie and Malik, played by Rahim Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It’s imperfect, but it’s daring, bold, and from a director who isn’t scared of anything. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Most prison movies are about escape or survival. A Prophet (Un Prophete) is about the creation of a consciousness. This one, too, could have been called “An Education.” Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Audiard delivers on and exceeds the promise he evinced in that earlier film, drawing viewers into the densely layered, ruthless ecology of a French prison and, against all odds, making them not mind staying there awhile. Read full review
88
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Strip away the French and Arabic subtitles, the French-prison setting and the Muslim-messianic title, and A Prophet, opening Friday at The Enzian, would still be the grittiest prison thriller in years. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJan 18, 2016
Though less pleasurably offbeat than the helmer’s well-received “Read My Lips” and “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” this is solid, sinewy pulp fiction. Read full review
80
EmpireAndrew Male
A modern French crime epic where the smudges and crossings out do not diminish the passages of great dreamlike power. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterPeter Brunette
What's most immediately remarkable about the film is the raw intensity of its hyper-realistic encounters, hugely enhanced by the superb acting of newcomer Rahim. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazineRichard Mowe
Whether audiences have the stomach for 150 minutes behind bars remains debatable, but there is no denying the persuasive power of a film that takes no prisoners and pulls no punches. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Rahim and Arestrup are both so outstanding that if this were an English-language film, they'd probably be nominated for Oscars, too. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Some have compared this French crime drama to "The Godfather," and though that may be a common critical touchstone, writer-director Jacques Audiard manages to replicate its most elusive element, not the dark comedy or the operatic bloodletting but the incremental corruption of a decent man into a willful, coldhearted killer. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
If his two previous films suggested a director dipping a few toes in dark waters, Un Prophete marks the moment when Audiard took the plunge. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Jacques Audiard’s film, which lasts two and a half hours, maintains an unflagging urgency, stalling only when the double-dealing grows too dense. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Rahim is an exciting, unpredictable presence, and Arestrup’s César has a stature that’s nearly Shakespearean. Read full review
70
Village VoiceRob Nelson
Sold to the global arthouse market as the "French Scorsese," Audiard does know his genre. A Prophet, the director has said, is the "anti-Scarface." Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A compelling piece of naturalistic filmmaking, claustrophobic and thought-provoking. Read full review
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