La graine et le mulet (2007)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Abdel Kechiche

Writer:

Abdel Kechiche (writer)

Release Date:

12 December 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

It takes will, courage and determination to realise a dream. But most of all it takes family

Plot:

At the port of Sète Mr. Slimani, a tired sixty year old, drags himself towards a shipyard job which...

Plot Keywords:

Shipyard | Restaurant Business | Rejected Loan Request | Entrepreneurship | Social Differences

Awards:

18 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Habib Boufares	...	Slimane Beiji
Hafsia Herzi	...	Rym
Farida Benkhetache	...	Karima
Abdelhamid Aktouche	...	Hamid
Bouraouïa Marzouk	...	Souad
Alice Houri	...	Julia
Leila D'Issernio	...	Lilia
Abelkader Djeloulli	...	Kader
Olivier Loustau	...	José
Sabrina Ouazani	...	Olfa
Mohamed Benabdeslem	...	Riadh
Bruno Lochet	...	Mario
Cyril Favre	...	Serguei
Sami Zitouni	...	Majid
Mohamed Karaoui	...	Lafita

Also Known As:

The Secret of the Grain (Australia) (Canada: English title) (festival title) (USA)
Couscous (International: English title) (UK)

Runtime:

France:151 min | USA:151 min | Argentina:151 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Arabic | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Sweden:7 | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Chantier naval, Sète, Hérault, France

Company:

Pathé Renn Productions

Trivia:

Filming was supposed to start in summer of 2005 but one of the leading actors was ill, resulting in a major delay. Thus, filming actually started on 5 September 2005 and was still running by 16 January 2006. The set was on a boat in the port of Sète for a least 6 weeks from October to December, 2006. Outside temperatures were very low, as opposed to what they should have been if schedule could have been held. This led the production to set up large tents near the set (boat) with heating systems for the actors and extras to remain comfortable between takes.

Movie Connections:

References Finding Nemo (2003)

A major movie of our times

Abdellatif Kechiche did very well with his previous movie "L'Esquive". But here we have even better. The story is simple : I'd say it is mostly about dignity, sacrifice and family love. The acting is brilliant. Habib Boufares is perfect, the young Hafsia Herzi is astounding, especially for the end of the movie. The actors are mostly non-professional people but the script is very well written and the characters are well defined, so this "amateurism" does great and helps the audience's immersion. The cinematography is very special (but never disturbing), with a lot of very close close-ups. The camera is "natural" as with Casavettes, but not "drunk", it is not a pain to watch and you don't get sea sick. The whole movie reminded me the Italian neo-realism and also a little of Renoir. Some people mention Pialat. It's a quite long movie but you don't feel it while watching, you just realize it after.