The Secret of the Grain

Name: La graine et le mulet
Genre: Drama
Released: 2007-12-12
Duration: 2 h 31 min
Rating: 7.4
Cast: Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache

Original title: La graine et le mulet

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

YOUR RATING

Drama

In southern France, a Franco-Arabic shipyard worker along with his partner's daughter pursues his dream of opening a restaurant.In southern France, a Franco-Arabic shipyard worker along with his partner's daughter pursues his dream of opening a restaurant.In southern France, a Franco-Arabic shipyard worker along with his partner's daughter pursues his dream of opening a restaurant.

Director
- Abdellatif Kechiche
Writers
- Abdellatif Kechiche
- Ghalya Lacroix
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- Abdellatif Kechiche
Writers
- Abdellatif Kechiche
- Ghalya Lacroix
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 19 wins & 9 nominations

Trivia
Shooting was supposed to start in the summer of 2005 but one of the leading actors was sick, which resulted 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 at least six 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 boat with heating systems for the actors and extras to remain comfortable between takes.

Quotes
Julia: [talking to Slimane about her husband] Is that a family man ?
Serguei: Never there for his kid.

Connections
Featured in Maltin on Movies: Flipped (2010)

Soundtracks
El fan hob wa imane
Written by Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Hussein El Sayed

User reviews41

Review

Featured review

10/10

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.