In this film by Cédric Kahn, Arieh Worthalter plays the enigmatic Pierre Goldman, gangster and far-left activist, prosecuted for the murder of two pharmacists in 1976. The role allows the 38-year-old actor to land Friday evening the César for best actor.
Also read César 2024: Anatomy of a Fall crowned best film.
The complete list of winners of the 49th ceremony
Released fifty years after the events that marked an entire generation, the film opened the Filmmakers' Fortnight, one of the main sections of the Cannes Film Festival.
Pure staging, without music or flashbacks: only the trial is filmed, giving the viewer a feeling of being behind closed doors.
However, a strength emerges from this minimalist staging.
What strikes the viewer is the verve of the accused.
A verve which gives the impression that he is ready, at any moment, to jump out of his box.
But also an extraordinary charisma.
An actor who wants to
“break the world”
“He has this chaos that he can’t contain. I understand his anger. I had a lot of them in my twenties, a lot. You want to break the world,”
the actor confided to Libération.
Almost single-handedly, Arieh Worthalter carries all the intensity of the film.
“I think we were all amazed by his performance
,” Cédric Kahn told AFP on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival.
Born March 25, 1985, he began his career on the stage in
Othello
in 2007. Although his name will probably mean nothing to the general public, the actor has played in more than twenty feature films including
Girl
by Lukas Dhont or
Hold me tight
by Mathieu Amalric, alongside Vicky Krieps.
Passionate about short films in which he played roles for years, the public found him in 2015 alongside Tahar Rahim and Adèle Exarchopoulos in “The Anarchists”.
He stands out in small roles, notably in the series
Bastille Day
with Idris Elba and Charlotte Le Bon or in the
2017 biopic
Marie Curie . His career took off in 2018 thanks to the feature film by Lukas Dhont,
Girl
, drama about trans identity which won the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival (first feature film).
He plays the father of a teenage girl, Lara, née Victor, who dreams of becoming a ballerina.
His performance was also recognized with the Magritte title for best supporting actor, a Belgian distinction which he won the following year for his role in
Duelles
.
The roles are starting to flow for the actor, who remains discreet.
We also saw him in
Nothing to lose
in 2023, alongside Virginie Efira, as a character who had broken his ban.
“I’ve been traveling around for a long, long time;
this quality of wandering and not being able to stay still, I understand it
,” he told Libération, in reference to his character in Cédric Kahn’s film.
Polyglot (he speaks English, Spanish, French, Hebrew and Dutch).
The actor was also seen in season 2 of the hit series
En Thérapie
.
Finally, when collecting his Caesar during the ceremony, Arieh Worthalter joined the many causes defended during the 49th ceremony by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.