THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN
| 2008 – 151′ – Drama.
Written by: Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalia Lacroix.
Directed by: Abdellatif Kechiche.
Starring: Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache, Abdelhamid Aktouche, Bouraouia Marzouk, Alice Houri, Leila D’Issernio, Abelkader Djeloulli.
Official Selection Venice International Film Festival 2007 (Jury Grand Prize winner). Four 2008 César Awards winner, including Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Promising Actress (Hafsia Herzi) and Best Director.
Official Competition COLCOA 2008.
In French with English subtitles.
A IFC Films release. |
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. 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. 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.