You're reading: Movie in French: ‘A Prophet’

The winner of the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes 2009, “A Prophet” by Jacques Audiard is a fascinating story of a man who grows into a personality while locked inside prison walls. French Arab Malik El Djebena is sentenced to six years in a corrupt prison ran by criminal clans. Starting off vulnerable, shy and inarticulate, he’s easily bullied by the leader of the prison’s Corsican gang. But El Djebena quickly shows change. Almost illiterate at the start, he learns all that he needs to know not only to survive but also to advance in his career behind the bars. Best known internationally for the films “Read My Lips” and “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” French director Audiard once again shows himself as master of emotional intensity and careful study of human nature.

Kyiv (19 Chervonoarmiyska, 251-2199, www.kievkino.com.ua). Nov. 5-11 at 12:45 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 9:20 p.m.