The Secret of the Grain [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche Abdellatif Kechiche

Overview

"Though it is seldom discussed (or acknowledged) in the West, modern-day France incorporates a substantial number of immigrant communities, with many indigenes from North Africa populating the bucolic regions of southern Gaul. Abdel Kechiche's La Graine et le Mulet hones in on one such community, located on the ocean, which exudes a laid-back, unforced rhythm and a slower pace of life for all of its residents. For many years, one such occupant, sexagenarian Slimane Beiji (Habib Boufares), has nurtured a single lifelong dream: to open up his own couscous and fish restaurant in the community. This dream appears ever more impossible when Slimane is promptly laid off, but he soon lands on the idea of occupying a wrecked boat and converting it into the restaurant. Meanwhile, the gentleman has recently divorced his wife, Souad (Bouraouia Marzouk), and has moved into a hotel owned by his lover, Latifa (Hatika Karaoui), but Slimane's extended family continues to meet at Souad's home on a weekly basis for her beloved fish couscous, where they expostulate their views on life and reflect on the state of their relationships with one another. In a tangentially related subplot, Slimane's oldest son, Hamid (Abdelhamid Aktouche), enjoys an extramarital affair, ignoring his nuptials with his Russian wife and the presence of his infant boy, and thus endangering the sanctity and happiness of his family."

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0715515063111
Original Release:	2007
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	2:34:00
Sales rank:	15,559

Special Features

New Video Interview with Kechiche ; Sueur, Kechiche's extended reedit of the climactic belly-dancing sequence, featuring a new video introduction by the Director; New Video Interview with Film Scholar Ludovic Cortade; Excerpt from a 20 heures television interview with Kechiche and Actress Hafsia Herzi; Video Interviews with Herzi, Actress Bouraoïa Marzouk, and the film's musicians; ; Theatrical Trailer; Plus: a Booklet featuring an essay by film critic Wesley Morris

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Habib Boufares	Slimane
Hafsia Herzi	Rym
Abdelhamid Aktouche	Hamid
Bouraouia Marzouk	Souad,Souad
Farida Benkhetache	Karima
Alice Houri	Julia
Leila D'Issernio	Lilia
Abelkader Djeloulli	Kader
Olivier Loustau	Actor
Sabrina Ouazani	Actor
Mohamed Benabdeslem	Actor
Bruno Lochet	Actor
Cyril Favre	Actor
Sami Zitouni	Actor
Mohamed Karaoui	Actor,Latifa
Henri Rodriguez	Actor,Hakim
Nadia Taoul	Actor,Madame Jilani
Jeanne Corporon	La banquière
Francis Arnaud	Monsieur Gruault
Henri Cohen	Claude Dorner
Violaine de Carne	Madeleine Dorner
Hélène Geier	La douanière
Ezzadine Bouzid	Aziz,Azza
Salah Mohamed	Salah
Rabah Khalfa	Rabah,Idwar
Benaïssa Ahaouari	Aïssa
Rosalie Symon	Marie
Carole Franck	La voisine de Guy
Gilbert Rouvière	Le compagnon de la banquière
Nourdine Midoun	Thomas
Abderrahmane Zeroual	Fouad
Claude Geraud	La mouette
José Rodriguez-Soltero	Houcine
Axel Yahimi	Maxime
Safia Khanchaf	Safia
Nadia Daïf	Nadia
Abdelkader Djeloulli	Actor
Sabrina Quazani	Actor

Technical Credits

Abdel Kechiche

Abdel Kechiche	Screenwriter,Director
Claude Berri	Producer
Pierre Grunstein	Producer
Aurélie Villard	Special Effects
Eric Armbruster	Sound Effects
Mélanie Blouin	Sound Effects
Yannick Boulot	Sound Effects
Nicolas Bourgeois	Sound Effects
Roberto Cappannelli	Sound Effects
Nathalie Rheims	Executive Producer