A Prophet

"Like Goodfellas without the visual fizz, or Scarface played straight, this is, quite simply, one of the greatest prison films ever made. An unforgettable early sequence sees Malik concealing a razor blade in his mouth. Throughout Audiard’s tough, tense, and immersive opus you’ll know exactly how he feels."

"One of those rare films in which the moral stakes are as insistent and thought through as the aesthetic choices."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"A modern French crime epic where the smudges and crossings out do not diminish the passages of great dreamlike power."

"A searing and stunning look at life behind bars."