TAHAR RAHIM A Star for a New Generation

Tahar Rahim’s first major starring role has launched him into the stratosphere. A Prophet (Un Prophète) follows the rise of, Rahim’s Malik El Djebena, a young French hooligan of Arab descent, who within days of his entry into a Paris prison, is forced to murder another inmate who poses a threat to the Corsican mob. This brutal imperative serves as the springboard for Malik’s own rise to power in the criminal underworld. Embraced across Europe as a masterpiece, the Jacques Audiard-helmed epic is a 2010 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, and has earned Rahim the 2009 European Film Award and 2010 Lumiere Award, both for Best Actor. The 28-year-old newcomer from the city of Belfort, in northeastern France, took some time with us to discuss the project that has catapulted him to stardom.

Venice: Malik is able to straddle the line among ethnic groups, which is something that the film’s characters have never seen before.

Tahar Rahim: I feel that he’s part of a new generation in France, where the differences between the different ethnic communities are becoming less pronounced. There are differences still, but they’re becoming smaller. They have a different racial history in France than in the United States. The new reality in France, whether or not it’s integrated in people’s minds or hearts yet, is that France is a multi-ethnic country, and that simply is a fact. At the beginning of the film, the establishment is rejecting [Malik]. For the Corsicans, he’s just an Arab, and the Arabs think he’s Corsican, and yet he transcends the differences.

Do you consider that to be the film’s message?

It could be, but for me, the most important thing that I latched onto as an actor, is that it is more important to use your brain, and the power of the mind, than force.

What was it like to film the pivotal murder scene?

Jacques [Audiard] and I talked for a long time about the scene. About the way Malik is at this moment. He doesn’t want to kill this guy, but he has to. And then when he goes to the cell, maybe there’s a moment when he says to himself, “Stop! I can’t do it.” But the blood [from the razor blade that is hidden in his mouth] is already coming. It’s either him [or Reyeb]. And he has to do it. And for me, it was something strange, because it’s fake blood, but it looks real. And two or three days after, I felt something in my mind that was very strange. Like I was guilty.

The adrenaline in the scene runs high.

The adrenaline was my own. That scene was shot at the end of [filming], so all of the anticipation and fear of doing the scene, I just channeled it into the character. The whole time we were shooting, I knew I was going to have to do this.

As an actor, what did you learn while making this film?

You try to surprise, to be surprised, to feel the moment, to dare. You don’t have to be afraid about making a mistake. That helps you a lot. If you’re not afraid to make a mistake, you can go beyond yourself. When I was [acting in other projects], I was afraid that I would go the wrong way, so I tried to maintain a way of acting. When you let go of that fear, and say, “Okay, I’ll try. And if it doesn’t work? Fine. I’ll try something else.” That sort of freedom liberates, and things happen that you would never expect.

How has your life changed in the past few months?

It’s completely different. Completely. To be an actor in a movie that’s successful in every country where it’s released — whatever you imagine, it’s ten times more. ▼

A Prophet (Un Prophète) premieres in Los Angeles and New York on February 26. See Tahar Rahim this July in Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle of the Ninth.