“A real breath of fresh air”: rated 3.9 out of 5, it’s the best film with Ahmed Sylla

Comedian and actor Ahmed Sylla is starring this week in the dramatic comedy Comme un prince in which he stars alongside Mallory Vanecque, Julia Piaton, Habib Dembélé, Igor Gotesman, Antoine Gouy, Olivier Rosemberg, Malika Azgag and Jonathan Cohen.

The first feature film as director of actor Ali Marhyar (Candice Renoir, Family Business), the film follows Souleyman, 27, a boxing champion in full preparation for the Olympics with the French team. The latter sees his future collapse when he cracks the bones in his hand following a fight in a bar.

Excluded from the team, he is sent to the Château de Chambord, where he must carry out his 400 hours of community service collecting waste in the gardens. At first indifferent to the place, Souleyman ends up becoming interested in the castle, in those who work there. His meeting with Mélissa, a young teenager with exceptional talent for boxing, will call his plans into question.

With more than 10 years of career in front of the camera, Ahmed Sylla has 20 series and films to his credit as an actor.

From his debut in the horror comedy Goal of the Dead with Alban Lenoir, to the adaptation of the successful comic strip La Guerre des Lulus, including the comedies Jumeaux mais pas trop, Inséparables, Les Femmes du square, Le Dindon or Our very small little marriage, the young 33-year-old actor takes on the roles.

But what is the best film in Ahmed Sylla’s filmography?

It is the comedy L’Ascension (2017) by Ludovic Bernard which is the feature film with Ahmed Sylla best rated by AlloCiné spectators. With 6946 ratings including 486 reviews, L’Ascension has an average rating of 3.9 stars out of 5.

The actor’s first major film role, The Ascension follows Samy, a young man who leaves his public housing project out of love for Nadia (Alice Belaïdi) to climb the mythical 8,848 meters that make Everest the Roof of the World. A departure that thrills his friends, then the whole 9-3 and soon the whole of France follows with emotion the exploits of this ordinary but loving young man. The result is a message of hope: everyone can invent their own future, since everything is possible.

Presented in competition during the Alpe d’Huez International Comedy Film Festival in 2017, The Ascension brought 1.13 million spectators to French theaters and launched Ahmed Sylla’s cinema career. Ludovic Bernard adapts the book by Nadir Dendoune “A loser on the roof of the world”. This incredible story is indeed inspired by a true story, even if the director has moved away from the basic material.

Ludovic Bernard explains in fact that he has not read Dendoune’s book. “I hadn’t read the book and I still haven’t read it because I wanted to move away from it in my film. I had just heard about this story when it was publicized in 2008. C This is a script that has been circulating at the Cité du Cinéma for some time…“The romance between Samy and Nadia, for example, does not appear in the autobiographical novel.

Did Ahmed Sylla really climb Everest?

Although the actor did not actually climb Everest, the film was still partly shot in Nepal, but not on the roof of the world, which was far too dangerous. The team did their location scouting by helicopter in January (one of the coldest months) in preparation for filming there in the spring.

Mars Films

The team also went to Chamonix mainly because there was not enough snow in Nepal. “We circled around the Aiguille du Goûter, a place that looks a lot like the summit of Everest. This is where we brought the totem and recreated the intermediate camps through which the mountaineers in the film pass. Paradoxically, it was more difficult in Chamonix than in Nepal because we were really waist-deep in snow, which is not very convenient for working!“, explains the director in the press kit.

“A real breath of fresh air

With a majority of scores at 4/5, the film is described as “a real breath of fresh air”, a “feel good-movie”, “pleasant entertainment”, “moving”, or even a “fresh film which feels good” by Internet users who have written a review.

The vast majority of the latter appreciate the provision ofAhmed Sylla : for Aymen B “Ahmed Sylla and Alice Belaïdi transmit the joy and warmth – far too often hidden – of the inhabitants of 93 and all the suburbs of France!”, while for Serge V, “Ahmed Sylla is excellent and brings his capital sympathy for the role”, benoitG80 notes for his part “Ahmed Sylla is rather convincing” and MatPunisherX writes that “Ahmed was the ideal actor for this film”. Finally for Adrien M “Ascension will bring Ahmed Sylla a very good career, like Omar Sy.”

Studiocanal

The actor will meet the filmmaker very soon Ludovic Bernard for the comedy Ici et là-bas, presented in competition during the 27th edition of the Alpe d’Huez Festival.

Ahmed Sylla shares the poster with Hakim Jemili and Hugo Becker. The film follows Adrien, who has lived in Senegal for fifteen years, he forms a happy mixed couple with his wife Aminata. Sent back to France for a visa problem, he is welcomed by Sékou, a cousin of his wife, who lives in Paris and has moved away from his Senegalese origins. While it takes time to find a solution to return, Adrien will have to team up with Sékou who takes him on a tour of France’s terroirs. Between Adrien, who is more Senegalese than his cousin, and Sékou, who will face the gaze of his customers for the first time, the duo is in for many surprises. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on April 17.