Profile (2018 film)

Profile
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Timur Bekmambetov
Screenplay by	Timur Bekmambetov Britt Poulton Olga Kharina
Based on	In the Skin of a Jihadist by Anna Erelle
Produced by	Timur Bekmambetov Olga Kharina
Starring	Valene Kane Shazad Latif Christine Adams Amir Rahimzadeh Morgan Watkins Emma Cater
Edited by	Andrey Shugaev
Music by	Andy Ross
Production company	Bazelevs Company
Distributed by	Focus Features
Release dates	February 17, 2018 (2018-02-17) (Berlin) May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14) (United States)
Running time	105 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom Cyprus Russia
Language	English
Budget	$2.3 million
Box office	$1.9 million

Profile is a 2018 screenlife thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov, from a screenplay by Bekmambetov, Britt Poulton, and Olga Kharina, based upon the non-fiction book In The Skin of a Jihadist by Anna Erelle. It stars Valene Kane, Shazad Latif, Christine Adams, Amir Rahimzadeh and Morgan Watkins.

The film had its world premiere at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2018, in the Panorama section. It was released in the United States on May 14, 2021, by Focus Features, and received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

In order to investigate the recruitment of young European women by ISIS, journalist Amy Whittaker creates a new Facebook profile under the alias of Melody Nelson. She creates a persona online of a woman who has recently converted to Islam.

Soon Amy is contacted by Bilel, an ISIS fighter from Syria. They begin to talk to each other regularly and after some time she begins to develop real romantic feelings for him.

After weeks and weeks of talking via Skype He convinces her to marry him over Skype, promising her the world. Although conflicted as it’s not a proper marriage she doesn’t think it holds any legal weight, she says the words he tells her to, telling her they are now married. He then tells Amy she must to go to Syria, Amy fights with herself - trying to convince herself it’s all for her work and the article. She does as instructed by Bilel and gets as far as Amsterdam, over a phone conversation she finds out Bilel won’t be meeting her and he is sending someone else to meet her, when she questions him he gets angry with her, then he takes a phone call while on Skype with her, she asks a Muslim friend to translate some of what he was saying to his friend. Her friend tells her he was negotiating a price and informing him of her eye colour and when she will be arriving, this helps her realise that he was trafficking her when in Syria and she goes back to England as soon as she can. Bilel finds out her true identity and posts videos all over social media asking all ISIS supporters to kill her and she is a traitor. Bilel is found in Syria and it turns out he has many wives and children.

Amy go ahead and prints her article outing him and hoping that warning other girls will save more from joining ISIS.

Cast

• Valene Kane as Amy Whittaker
• Shazad Latif as Bilel
• Christine Adams as Vick
• Morgan Watkins as Matt
• Amir Rahimzadeh as Lou
• Emma Cater as Kathy
• Marie Hamilton as Waitress

Production

The film is based on French journalist Anna Erelle's book In the Skin of a Jihadist about her investigation into the recruitment of young women by ISIS.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2018. It also screened at South by Southwest on March 11, 2018. In March 2021, Focus Features acquired distribution rights to the film, and set it for a May 14, 2021, release.

Reception

Box office

In the United States, Profile was released alongside Spiral, Those Who Wish Me Dead, and Finding You, and grossed $260,000 from 2,033 theaters on its first day of release. It went on to debut to $730,290, finishing ninth at the box office.

Critical response

(L:R) Shazad Latif, Timur Bekmambetov, Valene Kane at Berlinale 2018

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 62% based on 94 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Profile's unique narrative gimmick is enough to carry the film partway, but it's ultimately overwhelmed by an increasingly ludicrous plot." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 65% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 37% saying they would definitely recommend it.

The film won the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlinale.

External links

• Profile at IMDb