French Cinema Triumph: Jacques Audiard’s Best Film Scores 4.2/5, Wins 9 César Awards!

Marking its 25th anniversary, “Sur mes lèvres” returns to theaters in a restored 4K version. Directed by Jacques Audiard and released in 2001, the film chronicles the life of Carla, a hearing-impaired secretary at a real estate agency. Living a lonely life, she endures the taunts of her colleagues. Everything changes when her boss assigns her a new intern: Paul (Vincent Cassel), a former delinquent freshly released on parole. The film won three César Awards in 2002: Best Actress for Emmanuelle Devos, Best Screenplay, and Best Sound.

The Highest Rated Film Is…

Jacques Audiard has established himself as one of the most significant contemporary French directors, with only ten feature films to his name. Holding 13 Césars, he is the most awarded individual in the history of the awards.

“A Prophet” was featured in the official competition at Cannes in 2009, where it won the Grand Prix of the jury, and later dominated the 2010 César Awards with nine trophies, including Best Film and Best Director. The film also launched the career of Tahar Rahim.

Harsh, relentless, and starkly austere, this prison drama follows the incarceration of Malik El Djebena, sentenced to six years. Young, isolated, and illiterate, he falls under the influence of a group of Corsican prisoners and learns to survive in a ruthless environment.

With over 23,400 ratings and nearly 1,400 reviews on AlloCiné, A Prophet holds an average rating of 4.2 out of 5, placing it at the pinnacle of the filmmaker’s work.

Audience Reviews

Traversay1 from Club AlloCiné (5/5): “Look at men fall, A Self-Made Hero, Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, A Prophet. Jacques Audiard’s filmography is compelling: not only is it flawless, but it shows a rising power that undoubtedly places him at the peak of French filmmakers today. A Prophet is a culmination, a prison film, yes, but one that primarily tells a story of slow and relentless social ascent. The film’s darkness is profound, its intensity staggering, and to portray this human jungle, Audiard’s direction has been refined in the style of Jacques Becker or Melville (with the virtuosity of Scorsese in the violent scenes). A dense work (with wolves), featuring dreamlike, majestic detours (the deer) and instantly ranking among the greatest achievements of French cinema, across all eras and genres. Respect.“

Moket (5/5): “An unforgiving world for an incredible film. Beautifully filmed, the tension is constant. Audiard loves to bring his characters down to lift them up, here through a winding, dark, and dangerous path. A dazzling film in which emerges a superb and promising actor.“

Yetcha from Club AlloCiné (5/5): “Heavy, oppressive, hard, violent, anxiety-inducing, and so realistic it’s truly terrifying! A great moment in cinema that perhaps only French cinema could offer. Let’s not even imagine an American version of such a work. Niels Arestrup is simply immense as the Corsican mafia boss. A must-see and re-see, despite its 2.5 hours. One does not emerge unscathed, that’s for sure. I hope it shows some people how tough, dirty, and truly undesirable prison is. Bravo Audiard!“

Xavi_de_Paris from Club AlloCiné (5/5): “A Prophet is undoubtedly one of the best films ever made about the prison world. Jacques Audiard delivers a film of cold realism, decoding a violent world filled with trafficking and gangs, devoid of any humanism. The depicted characters each embody different universes, origins, and generations, which transcend and clash. The particularly convincing performance by Tahar Rahim, which has earned him well-deserved praise.“

Norman06 (5/5): “A punchy, underground, and suffocating thriller, this masterful film elevates Jacques Audiard to the ranks of the greats and reveals a striking actor, Tahar Rahim. A film of men, manipulators and allies, both fragile and terrible, secretive and outward, A Prophet introduces an element of Greek tragedy to a genre (French police cinema) often stagnant. To find such purity in dramatic intensity, such tension in narrative linearity, one must go back to Jacques Becker’s A Man Escaped or Melville’s films from the 60s.“

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