The power of the treacherous interpreter: Multilingualism in Jacques Audiard’s Un prophète

Gemma King

doi:10.52034/lanstts.v0i13.51

Abstract

Representations of multilingualism as power are steadily increasing in prevalence in the French cinema of the twenty-first century. In contemporary multilingual French cinema, language functions not only as a vessel of meaning, but as a socially loaded and complex tool which is far from neutral. In films such as Welcome (Lioret, 2009), Polisse (Maïwenn, 2011), London River (Bouchareb, 2010) and De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté (Audiard, 2005), characters often exploit their multilingualism in order to exercise authority. Consequently, language can constitute a narrative device in itself, and a weapon to be harnessed and deployed in the pursuit of power. This article examines Jacques Audiard’s Un Prophète (2009), a film which contains dialogue in languages other than French and whose characters consistently employ code switching as a strategy for exerting dominance over one another. Significantly, the protagonist Malik’s multilingual power play comes to a head in his adoption of the role of what we shall label the treacherous interpreter, exploiting the measure of trust ritually assigned to the translator in order to manipulate his adversaries and wrest himself a unique position of power. The film thus calls into question not only the shifting status of marginalised languages in French society, but also the delicate and crucial role of translation in a social landscape marked by linguistic hybridity and intercultural conflict.

Highlights

In a society increasingly characterised by multiculturalism and linguistic diversity, a significant number of contemporary French films are exploring and foregrounding the role of multilingualism
In contemporary French multilingual film, language functions as a vessel of meaning, and as a socially loaded and complex tool. Characters actively exploit their multilingualism in order to exert symbolic power: they may switch to a language other characters cannot understand in order to conspire, exclude or intimidate, or flaunt their linguistic competence in order to gain access to, or acceptance by, a particular cultural group
Given that multilingual cinema is concerned with linguistic plurality on both a narrative and thematic level, it is perhaps unsurprising that representations of the figure of the interpreter, and of diegetic interpreting sequences, appear in a number of contemporary French multilingual films

Summary

Introduction

In a society increasingly characterised by multiculturalism and linguistic diversity, a significant number of contemporary French films are exploring and foregrounding the role of multilingualism. In contemporary French multilingual film, language functions as a vessel of meaning, and as a socially loaded and complex tool. Characters actively exploit their multilingualism in order to exert symbolic power: they may switch to a language other characters cannot understand in order to conspire, exclude or intimidate, or flaunt their linguistic competence in order to gain access to, or acceptance by, a particular cultural group. Through an analysis of Jacques Audiard’s 2009 film Un prophète, this article focuses on the place of translation in multilingual cinema. It explores a specific interpreting phenomenon, whereby the interpreter exploits his/her authority, providing a false translation as a means of manipulating others. We will call this practise that of the treacherous interpreter

The interpreter in contemporary French multilingual film

Un prophète

Un prophète and the treacherous interpreter

Conclusion