Un Prophete (A Prophet)

Another look at Audiard’s recent smash, that remains difficult to define as anything but a classic.
‘Confident’ remains the keyword here, installed by Audiard’s happiness to take us all the way down corridors. He is a master storyteller, wonderfully pacing, with tricks to connect scenes in a seamless, exciting, rhythmic manner; it may sound silly, but crossover music and starting scenes with people walking down corridors really does work. As do the musical montages, to break up the longer reflections.
The camerawork is less jerky than in ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’, and the narrative does not quite so closely follow our lead. Yet, it remains more than ever about the lead (another applause for the winning central performance). How is this achieved?
This film is really a biblical piece. We have constant references and allusions to the gospels, as well as to the figures of Mohammed. It is really a piece about the crossover of the seer, the redeemer, the prophet. The question remains; who really is El Djebema? Some kind of prophet? One would need many an hour to consider this question, even on repeat viewings part of the complex web remains opaque. From what we can see, he is in a way a collaboration of all the forces around him, he is the ‘objective’ divine, the messenger for all that there is. Yet this messianic role is refused to be seen too clearly; Audiard has set this with such attention to detail and such a focus on the petty crime that we have the most incredible thing; an immanent transcendent.
This film will be a classic. It is great. O.K., for every fifteen great minutes maybe five (though still important to the plot) are really just ballast. Nevertheless, this film reaches places intellectually and emotionally so few others can get near.