Prophets aren't recognised in their own land, but Un Prophète by French director Jacques Audiard proved to be an exception to this rule when it won the 2009 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. And rightly so, because it confirmed Audiard's status as one of contemporary cinema's most exciting filmmakers.

Un Prophète charts the life behind bars of Arab youth Malik El Djebena (played with absolute conviction by newcomer Tahar Ramim), who enters prison as an almost completely clean slate. He has no family, no friends and can't read or write. The only biographical information we know about him is that he's been sentenced to six years for assaulting a policeman, although the visual evidence of his scar-strewn body suggests a life that's been filled with adversity.

Malik soon attracts the attentions of a gang of Corsican prisoners, led by Antony Worrall Thompson lookalike César Luciani (played by Niels Arestrup), who threaten to kill him unless he carries out a hit on a fellow inmate. The tension is cranked up to unbearable levels as an unwilling Malik prepares to carry out the grim deed - suffice it to say, market analysts who are struggling to understand a sharp rise in the sales of electric razors should watch Un Prophète for the explanation. And all this happens within the first 30 minutes.

The rest of the film is an absorbing character study of tabula rasa Malik's evolution. Shaky cam follows his swim through the prison's shark-infested waters, which is brought to terrifying life by Audiard's vérité direction and a sound design that recognises the incessant aural onslaught of life at Nicolas Sarkozy's pleasure. As several new plot strands are introduced, Un Prophète admittedly loses some of its initial claustrophobic power. A supernatural element also seems to be slightly misjudged. Nevertheless, Audiard triumphantly achieves his avowed aim of making a prison movie that doesn't focus on the genre's usual suspects.

Audiard's next project is rumoured to be The Princess's Gangster, about the reported affair between tough guy actor John Bindon (who could famously hold a pint) and Princess Margaret. Whatever he does, it's sure to be fascinating.

Un Prophète (Optimum Home Entertainment) is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Colin Houlson