LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (COUSCOUS, SECRETS OF THE GRAIN)

France, 2007, 151 minutes, Colour.
Habib Boufares.
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche.

This is an intriguing film. It is very long, the last 30 minutes sometimes testing the patience of the audience, especially with the long belly dance as well as the highly emotional outburst of one of the central characters. (While the outburst is justified, the stridency of the performance in the way that it is filmed is very demanding on the audience; the belly dance also contributes to the tension of the film and the situation, but it is also very long.)

The film is set on the Mediterranean coast amongst the French- Arabic community. It focuses on an older man, a worker on the docks for thirty-five years.

It highlights his work, his skills. It also highlights his difficulties with the changing work patterns of the 21st century, the role of Arabic workers, and the role of the French.

The film is very strong in its portrayal of the extended family (while the central character is divorced, we see his ex-wife, nagging) as well as his various children and their families. One of his daughters is happily married but is exasperated with her child’s toilet training. Another daughter is very glamorous and poised in life. Another is quite young. There is also a happily married older daughter with her non-Arabic husband. There are two sons, the older who works on the docks and as a tourist guide is unfaithful to his Russian-born wife. It is she who has the outbursts. The other is a genial young man.

The father also lives in a hotel, is in a partnership with the owner of the hotel and a father figure to her daughter.
The central focus of the film is the older man’s decision to turn a wrecked and dilapidated boat into a restaurant. The municipal powers are against him. However, he perseveres. With family and friends, he is able to transform the ship. He also holds and inaugural dinner for 100 guests, many of them municipal authorities coming, with the help of his ex-wife making the couscous which is her specialty because she knows the secret of the grain. The rest of the family also do help as do friends from the bar. However, there is a crisis when the older philandering son takes the car to avoid seeing his mistress with the couscous in the back. This has crisis effect for the dinner itself and the final half hour of the film is the way in which the crisis is handled. Then the film suddenly ends, leaving interpretation for the future open to the audience.

The film uses handheld camera quite a deal, with great fluidity in conversations and, especially, the family meal. With the close ups, there is an intimacy and an intensity in the characters’ expressing themselves both seriously and comically. To this extent, the film is quite a detailed and intense exploration of characters and their interrelationships, in the context of contemporary France and the issues about migrants, especially from North Africa.

Winner of the Jury Prize at Venice, the FIPRESCI prize and a SIGNIS commendation.

1. The impact of the film? The French setting? The French- Arabic community? The work situations? Migrants? Nationalism? Extended family? Family tensions? Enterprise?

2. The Mediterranean coast, the town, the credits and the boat tour, the docks, homes, the warehouses, streets and bars? Authentic feel? The musical score?

3. The visual style: the bright colours, the close-ups, the handheld camera, close for drama, intimacy, intensity?

4. The Magreb music, the songs, the belly dance?

5. The family setting: Majhid and the tour, the sexual encounter with the passenger - giving the reasons for the crisis and the climax? Slimane and his job, the boss, the discussions about hours, his being sacked, his friends, the delivery of the fish, his ex-wife and the visit to his daughter, his love for his grandchildren, his friends at the bar? The criticism from family? The praise at the bar?

6. His situation and age, health, work, thirty-five years on the docks, 1990 only for registration, the ignoring of the twenty years? His marriage, separation from his wife? Her nagging at his visits? His apartment, his friendship with the owner of the bar, Rym, the visit to his daughter, the potty training and the daughter's stridency, his son-in-law and friendship? His younger son? The other daughters? Their concern about their father and wanting him to go back to their mother? Their dislike of the owner of the hotel?

7. The family celebration, the meal, the introduction to the family characters? Karima, her children, her husband, his work, her own work, the unions? Lilia and her liveliness, Mero and his being non-Arabic, the jokes about his speaking Arabic words? Riadh as the youngest? The youngest daughter, the glamorous daughter and her husband? Majhid and Julia? Julia's brother, the Russian background, her being upset, his infidelity? The arguments? Going down to the meal? The scenes of the chatter at dinner, the jokes, the bonds?

8. Their father not going, the boys visiting, bringing him the food? Trying to persuade him to come home? His relationship with the owner, the night, the impotence? Rym and his friendship, being the father figure? (Her attraction to Riadh?)

9. The idea for turning the old boat into a restaurant, Rym and her help? The work on the boat? The interviews, the loans, the refusals, plans, municipal hearings? The old men at the bar and their determination to help, joining in? The preparation for the inaugural dinner, the family helping? The effect for Slimane?

10. The preparation of the dinner, especially the couscous? The ex-wife, her diligence, the women all helping? The décor, the waiting at tables, the range of guests, the local personages? Rym and her being upset, trying to persuade her mother to go, the reasons? The daughters and their helping out - and their dislike of Rym and her mother?

11. The crisis, Riadh carrying in the pots, Majhid and his seeing his woman friend, taking the car, his lie, turning his mobile phone off? The couscous in the back of the car? The women and their trying to cope? The father and his pursuit on the bike, meeting Julia, the stridency and length of her outburst, wearing for the audience despite its justification? The boys taking the bike, his giving chase, his continued running? The belly dance, delaying the people, giving them more liquor, waiting for the couscous? Rym's mother and her going across to the hotel, making the couscous and bringing it back?

12. The municipal authorities, their plots against Slimane?

13. The importance of Julia and her outbursts, the tension in the families, marital infidelity? The responsibility of the family, knowing, not supporting Julia? The role of her brother?

14. The sudden ending: Slimane and his collapse, the bringing of the couscous, the family - and the future of the restaurant - or not?