Saïd Taghmaoui’s restless energy works particularly well in company, where he can make a group of actors feel like old friends. La Haine is our recommendation; the subsequent career has too often been narrowed by the parts offered.
Fi1m perspective
In La Haine (1995), Saïd Taghmaoui helps make three friends seem to have known one another long before we meet them. Vincent Cassel’s Vinz is so insistent in his resentment that he could overwhelm the group, but Taghmaoui’s Saïd and Hubert Koundé’s Hubert give him people to respond to. We laughed more than we expected because their exchanges had the familiarity of friends, rather than jokes inserted to make the drama easier. Mathieu Kassovitz lets us enjoy their company without asking us to excuse everything they say.
Taghmaoui also co-wrote the film, drawing on his own experience, which helps explain why Saïd feels at home in this company. It is worth remembering the writing before treating a natural performance as something that happened by itself. Kassovitz’s direction occasionally shows off, but the actors keep the friendship credible. Taghmaoui’s restless energy is useful here because Cassel and Koundé give him something to respond to; he helps make their performances convincing too.
The breakthrough did not bring an unrestricted choice of parts: limited opportunities and typecasting in France pushed his career abroad. Three Kings (1999), in which he plays Captain Said, was an early substantial English-language role. His later work has been largely in supporting parts in international productions, including American Hustle (2013), Sameer in Wonder Woman (2017) and the Elder in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019). He speaks French, Arabic, English and Italian, but military and Middle Eastern roles have remained a recurring feature of the casting.
The recurring casting makes us cautious about what any new credit will ask of him. We would like more parts that give him the time and the company Kassovitz provided, without simply asking him to repeat Saïd. Start with La Haine, and watch how Taghmaoui and Koundé make Cassel’s anger part of a friendship we believe in.
Biography
Saïd Taghmaoui is a French actor born on 19 July 1973 in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. He left school early and became a boxer, reaching number two in his weight class in France, before beginning an acting career in 1994.
Taghmaoui is known for his role as Saïd in La Haine (1995), which he co-wrote with director Mathieu Kassovitz; he was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actor. He has since appeared in international productions including Three Kings (1999), Wonder Woman (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019). He moved to the United States in 1999 and became a US citizen in 2008.
