Adel Bencherif nor did Niels Arestrup receive Oscar nominations, despite the latter winning LAFCA, for portraying Ryad and César Luciani respectively in A Prophet.
Ryad and Cesar are two very different fellow prisoners that our lead character Malik (Tahar Rahim) encounters in prison. Cesar is the first, very unpleasant, force to greet him, as he and his gang of Corsicans almost immediately force Malik to perform a hit for them. Niels Arestrup, who won LA for this in I'm guessing a wish to be different as if they really wanted to recognize the prophet does it lead but I severely digress, is a very specific presence. Similar to his thuggish father from his previous collaboration with Jacques Audiard, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, he is rather unpleasant, to say the least. And I'll say Arestrup is effective in being unpleasant, as just his very innate expression has this kind of toxic quality about the man, he seems on the edge of hate always, and that is where he exists. He is only occasionally a bit more pleasant. This is in stark contrast to Ryad, where Bencherif immediately makes Ryad an approachable man. Even as a prisoner, Bencherif's performance exudes this easy warmth about him and you sense in his first interactions with Malik that this is a man who would rather find friendship with Malik, than an ally, if not a servant, to be used as is the case with Cesar.
As the film progresses we quickly have change with both Ryad and Cesar with their relationship with Malik that defines both Arestrup and Bencherif's performance. The former we see as the hostile old man where Arestrep is penetrating with just how vile and convincing he is in his moments of physical abuse. There's this ease of the violence he portrays that is particularly off-putting. Though in this I do ponder if perhaps Arestrep limits Cesar in a way, because bluntly, you hate Cesar completely without reservation, even when he becomes lonely when the other Corsicans leave, I didn't care. And along with his previous work, I do kind of wonder if he's too vile in both roles, only because you hate him, and that's about it. It should be reaffirmed that he's quite good at making you hate him again through his delivery and manner that is always hectoring, always has this slimy ease about him, but I do kind of wonder if there had been some sort of false misguided sense of fatherly manner there could've been even more with his character. And again it is very specifically a fundamental choice in Arestrup's performance that Cesar's humanity is rarely a sight except for pathetic self-pity and much of the time it is just him being a hideous man. So it isn't a case of him being ever less than good, I can't help but ponder if there was an even greater character possible however. I mean in the ending when he has lost all power, it is satisfying because he's been so despicable, but I can't help but wonder if it could've been even more complex by the end.
With Bencherif, he is just wonderful in the role of portraying the consistent humanity of Ryad in the early moments of friendship with Malik. He and Rahim have great really just genuinely assured chemistry between each other. There is no sense of anything but the truth in how they speak to one another, which is what makes their interactions so special. And we see this only advance when Ryad gets released early because he has terminal cancer. The actors are so good there doesn't need to be a big thing about it because you just immediately accept this friendship as something pure and true within this brutal world. And the two are great together in their interactions because there is such strict understanding between the two, even as Ryad becomes sort of the reluctant partner as Malik becomes the more ambitious criminal of the two. Bencherif's performance is great as really this shadow of Rahim's, where he personifies every moment of hesitation or reservation. His work reinforces humanity again and again, with every delivery and reaction of his, whether it is fear of some of their criminal tasks or the joys of their successes, Bencherif is the amplification of that. Not by big swings as a performer, but rather this sincere consistency within his work. Bencherif's approach is just to bring this reaffirming life that makes him particularly tragic when we see the eventual wear of his cancer upon him. This is even in the most humane moments such as when Malik has dinner with Ryad's family. The two just are incredible together because it is just a simple friendship, and the two are as men in this criminal underworld as they would be in a happy life. And that is when Bencherif physically shows the sense of his impending demise, there is such a quiet yet heartbreaking reaction on his end, that grows throughout his performance this sense of what is coming for him. His final scene is one of the most moving in the film because Bencherif has just made you come to care for this man, and seeing his final wasting away moments is heartbreaking. And his whole performance is remarkable as he provides a fundamental contrast within the overall world, of a man in the darkness, but still having this innate light that defines him.
(Arestrup)
