This 2010 interview features actress Bouraouïa Marzouk, who plays Souad in THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN. Englisch-Deutsch-Übersetzungen für The Secret of the Grain im Online-Wörterbuch dict.cc (Deutschwörterbuch). "[3] The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. The women start to heat up the food when they notice the absence of the couscous. As Rym dances and sweats, her mother walks up the gangplank with a new cauldron of couscous, whilst Slimane continues to chase the youths around the apartment building. The Secret Of The Grain stretches out at the relaxed pace of a seven-course meal, but at the end of it, Kechiche has squeezed the most he can out of percolating dramas within the family and he lets the audience get to know its members without needing to throw them all a subplot. 151min. The earthy magnetism of Rym’s undulating belly will quell the impatient grumbling of the mesmerized customers … Slimane has worked in the same shipyard job for over 35 years, when his growing dissatisfaction prompts him to try to open his own restaurant. Knowing that it will take at least another hour to cook a new batch, they continue to frantically call Majid and attempt to call Souad, who is out searching for an unfortunate in need of plate of couscous. Related. [4], Wesley Morris, film critic for the Boston Globe, writing for the Criterion online accompaniment to the film, notes that the film is “essentially a portrait of an extended family whose dynamics are steadily reframed in a collection of long, eventful scenes.” The cast get to play “actual people—not symbols, inmates, nannies, or the undignified other,” and “their concerns have little to do with overt oppression or xenophobia.” He praises Abdellatif Kechiche because the “narrative in this film is secondary to human nature...” He calls the belly-dance in final sequence “complexly conceived and realized, and says “the dancer uses sex and cultural exoticism to distract tables of formerly civilized but suddenly restless white natives.” Kechiche “invites us to acknowledge a fundamental truth about Arabs—or any people of color—in the history of the movies: stereotypes sell.” [5], Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, 2007, The film was released in the Criterion Collection in 2010. As he is being forced out of his job at the local shipyard, he interacts in a series of extended vignettes with various members of his extended family including his ex-wife, his sons and daughters, their husbands and wives, and his grandchildren. Having prepared the couscous, fish, vegetables and sauce in large metal cauldrons, Slimane's ex-wife sends the food to the boat with her sons and leaves her apartment to find a 'poor man' so that she can donate a plate of food that she habitually reserves for the less fortunate. Classics and discoveries from around the world, thematically programmed with special features, on a streaming service brought to you by the Criterion Collection. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche • 2007 • France The Secret Of The Grain - Couscous. Sign In. Summary: The Secret of the Grain is a touching and resoundingly humanistic story set in the rustic port of Sete in southeastern France. The musicians play for her and she entrances the guests with a fervent performance, charged with youthful, sexual energy. Watch The Secret of the Grain (2007) - Comedy, Drama Movie: At the port of Sète, Mr. Slimani, a tired 60-year-old, drags himself toward a shipyard job that has become more and more difficult to cope with as the years go by. When the family sits down for a meal and discusses the drama of the day, we feel as if we’re sitting with them at the dinner table. Panic mounts when they discover that it is definitively absent and Majid, who has taken the car that still holds the metal cauldron in the trunk, is not answering his phone. Kechiche is known for casting his films with unknown actors (or even fist time actors) and while some may view this as self-indulgent exercise in proving that a film can be made without the aid of a … When they come back on, Rym stands before the assembled diners in a red belly-dancing outfit. It has the texture of a documentary but a classic, almost Shakespearean structure: when patriarch Slimane acts on his wish to open a portside restaurant specializing in his ex-wife’s couscous and fish, the extended clan’s passions and problems explode, leading to an engrossing, suspenseful climax. The secret of the grain in the title is the ability of a woman named Soaud (Bouraouia Marzouk) to make couscous out of it. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche • 2007 • France. The winner of four César awards, including best picture and director, Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain is a stirring drama about the daily joys and struggles of a bustling French-Arab family. Monsieur Slimani, a broken-down man of sixty, is still working at the shipyard, the job getting harder as the years go by. The Secret of the Grain IMDB: 7.4 At the port of Sète, Mr. Slimani, a tired 60-year-old, drags himself toward a shipyard project that's become increasingly more difficult to manage with as the years proceed. Rent. The French title of the film refers to a "grain of couscous" and to mullet, a type of small fish, both popular in Tunisian cuisine. By using our site, you agree to our use of cookies. Undaunted, Slimane enlists his sons to help with the renovation and arranges an opening gala of a large dinner party, to which he invites the many bureaucrats on whose decision the fate of the project rests, in an attempt to demonstrate the viability of the enterprise. He runs after them, but every time they stop to mock him they move on before he can catch up to them. La Graine et le Mulet. It has the texture of a documentary but a classic, almost Shakespearean structure: when patriarch Slimane acts on his wish to open a portside restaurant specializing in his ex-wife’s couscous and fish, the extended … At the end of the film, Rym, with the energy of a desperate dime-store Scheherazade, performs a belly dance for the opening-night clientele to save the day after a kitchen catastrophe. The Secret of the Grain: original title: La graine et le mulet: country: France: sales agent: Pathé International: year: 2007: genre: fiction: directed by: Abdellatif Kechiche: release date: BE 12/12/2007, FR 12/12/2007, IT 11/01/2008, NL 17/04/2008, UK 20/06/2008, DE 04/09/2008, ES 30/01/2009: screenplay: Abdellatif Kechiche: cast: The younger generation all seem quintessentially French to us, but what do we know? The guests, talking amongst themselves, begin to speak both positively and anxiously about the likely success of the restaurant, now concerned that it may draw custom away from the other restaurants in the area. When Slimane Beiji, divorced, in his sixties, and of Algerian origins, is made redundant after working for years on a shipping wharf, he acts on his wish to open a portside restaurant. He also gets an electrifying performance out of Herzi, playing a young woman whose tenacity and devotion to … When he cannot find his ex-wife, Slimane leaves the apartment building to find his motorbike stolen. Tensions in the dining room reach a peak and Rym decides to step in. The Secret of the Grain celebrates how food and family connect cultures. Upcoming. She whispers to the musicians, and suddenly the music stops and the lights go out. Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2013. Play. Abdel Kechiche's `La Graine et le mulet', variously retitled `Couscous' and `The Secret of the Grain' for English-speaking audiences, is a neo-realist drama set in the cultural melting pot of Sète, a port town in the Languedoc region of France. Habib Boufares Hafsia Herzi Farida Benkhetache (2007) A family rallies around its tired father to make his lifelong dream come true. 4.0 out of 5 stars The Secret of the Grain. The film stars Habib Boufares as an aging immigrant from the Maghreb whose ambition to establish a successful restaurant as an inheritance for his large and disparate family meets sceptical opposition from the French bureaucracy. Watch. France . At the restaurant, the sons unload the metal cauldrons and the women serve wine and appetisers to the waiting guests. He instructs his brother to tell the rest of the family that he has gone to help a friend who has broken down on the highway. With sensitivity and grit, THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN celebrates the role food plays in family life and gets to the core of contemporary immigrant experience. A. O. Scott of The New York Times named it the 3rd best film of 2008,[4] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon named it the 6th best film of 2008,[4] and Scott Foundas of LA Weekly named it the 7th best film of 2008 (along with A Christmas Tale). Record Series. In the dining room the guests, despite the attempts of the women to placate them with assurances and date liqueur, become extremely restless. On the night in question attendance is high, although notable by her absence is his long-term partner, Latifa. Subscribe. The Secret of the Grain holds an 83/100 on Metacritic[2] and a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus stated by the latter aggregator as, "A complex portrait of an immigrant family, The Secret of the Grain is a sprawling, intimate film with many fine performances. The original title is La Graine et le Mulet, or The Grain and the Mullet, which are two ingredients of couscous. See more in our Cookies Policy. With Rym's enthusiastic help, Slimane applies for the relevant licences and loans, but soon finds himself knee-deep in bureaucratic red tape. The following interview with director Abdellatif Kechiche was conducted in March 2010. Here we see race and class discrimination in France; the big shots are happy to wine and dine for free, but in their minds immigrants are not ... quite ... French. Watch for FREE. Starring Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Faridah Benkhetache. The Secret of the Grain (French: La graine et le mulet), titled Couscous in the UK, is a 2007 Franco-Tunisian drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. Abdellatif Kechiche’s stirring drama deals with the daily joys and struggles of a bustling French-Arab family. Insulted and threatened by the involvement of Slimane's ex-wife in the project, the restaurant's cook and creator of the pivotal fish couscous, Latifa refuses to leave her hotel. Watch for FREE. Determined to leave a legacy for his beloved family, and encouraged by his long-term partner's daughter, Rym, (Hafsia Herzi) he pursues his dream of converting a dilapidated boat into a family restaurant that will specialise in his ex-wife's fish couscous, a meal that she prepares for the entire family every Sunday. The film features scenes that go on for much longer than most moviegoers are used to, which results in a lived-in experience. The winner of four César awards, including best picture and director, Abdellatif Kechiche’s THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN is a stirring drama about the daily joys and struggles of a bustling French-Arab family. The culprits, three young boys, sit atop the stolen bike on the other side of the river, mocking him. Also marketed as "Couscous", this Franco-Tunisien production gives a good insights to a North African family living in France. Synopsis. Rym pleads with her to attend, encouraging her to use the opportunity to flaunt her comparative youth and beauty in front of Slimane's ex-wife, and eventually she concedes. Watch for FREE. Rotten Tomatoes™ 93% 76%. Start Shopping. Starring Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Faridah Benkhetache. This 45-minute featurette is director Abdellatif Kechiche’s reedit of Rym’s belly-dancing sequence in THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN, a 2010 visual and aural interpretation of the film’s passionate climax. The two ingredients constitute both the staple of his extended family's diet and the menu on which he plans to establish his restaurant. The dirty secret behind the whole grain products #malnutrition #bread #wheat The Secret of the Grain (French: La graine et le mulet), titled Couscous in the UK, is a 2007 Franco-Tunisian drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. "Secret of the Grain" arrives at a big free dinner thrown by Slimane for the town big shots, in hopes of getting planning permission for the restaurant. We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. Their comments turn nasty and they turn on the waitressing girls. In this 2010 interview, actress Hafsia Herzi, who plays Rym, discusses the making of THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN. Buy. The winner of four César awards, including best picture and director, Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain is a stirring drama about the daily joys and struggles of a bustling French-Arab family. But if victory in Kechiche’s films always belongs to the women, in The Secret of the Grain, it’s a bitter one. THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN (LA GRAINE ET LE MULET) as written and directed by Abdellatif Kechiche offers the viewer a different version of the importance of family and the need to bond for survival. He's divorced and doing all he can to stay close to his family. The film stars Habib Boufares as an aging immigrant from the Maghreb whose ambition to establish a successful restaurant as an inheritance for his large and disparate family meets sceptical opposition from the French bureaucracy. Resume. Slimane's son Majid, whilst surveying the crowd, notices a bureaucrat's wife with whom he has had several illicit sexual liaisons and decides to leave quietly. Finally he sinks to his knees, before collapsing flat on the ground, unmoving. In this 2010 interview, French film scholar Ludovic Cortade, author of “Le cinéma de l’immobilité,” discusses the themes and style of THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN. It focuses on the trials of a extended, predominantly French-Tunisian family and the efforts of a taciturn father figure to better himself and unite his fragmented … Slimane takes his motorbike out to Souad's apartment building to find her. Latifa uses the opportunity to slip off the boat and return to the hotel to start a new pot of couscous. The Secret of the Grain. Verified Purchase. more. Rent/Buy. Play. This excerpt from an episode of the television series “20 heures” features interviews with director Abdellatif Kechiche, actress Hafsia Herzi, and residents of Sete, the location for THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN, as they celebrate the film’s awards at the 2008 Cesars. It’s less about plot and more about mood, providing the film an authenticity that’s … The city of Sète, on the harbour. Sign In. The Secret of the Grain (French: La graine et le mulet), titled Couscous in the UK, is a 2007 Franco-Tunisian drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche.The film stars Habib Boufares as an aging immigrant from the Maghreb whose ambition to establish a successful restaurant as an inheritance for his large and disparate family meets sceptical opposition from the French bureaucracy. [6], sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMorris2010 (, "La Graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain) (2007)- JPBox-Office", "LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN) (COUSCOUS) (2007)", "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Secret_of_the_Grain&oldid=994378591, Films whose director won the Best Director César Award, Films whose director won the Best Director Lumières Award, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Best Original Screenplay: Abdellatif Kechiche, Best Director (Eurasia Film Festival): Abdellatif Kechiche, Marcello Mastroianni Prize (for actor or actress in a début role): Hafsia Herzi, SIGNIS Award - Honorable Mention: Abdellatif Kechiche, This page was last edited on 15 December 2020, at 12:10. Living in France a North African family living in Sete licences and loans, but what do know! Director Abdellatif Kechiche • 2007 • France starring Habib Boufares ) is the divorced head of bustling! 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