Most of the action in French family-and-food drama The Secret of
the Grain (La graine et le mulet) stems from one man’s
ballsy decision. Forced out of the shipyard job he’s held for 30-plus
years, 60-year-old Slimane (Habib Boufares), the taciturn patriarch of
a large, close-knit, dysfunctional French-Tunisian extended family,
embarks upon a new career as the owner of a couscous restaurant housed
in a renovated boat. We never see the moment when Slimane decides to
change his life. One minute, he’s quietly despairing over his lessening
shipyard hours and a paltry severance package; the next, he’s launching
headfirst into the bureaucratic mess of loan inquiries, permits and
schmoozing. Writer/director Abdellatif Kechiche doesn’t waste time with
schlocky “I’ll build a restaurant on this ramshackle boat, and leave a
legacy for my beloved family!” speeches, because he doesn’t need to;
the film’s subtle, naturalistic dialogue economically establishes plot,
and conveys character, setting and mood. TSOTG is a hefty, 154
minutes long, but little feels extraneous. Time is put towards building
a world where characters feel like people—judgmental, flawed
and well-meaning, capable of prideful selfishness, generosity and
kindness alike.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2009.
