04/01/2008

Abdellatif Kechiche described his third feature, The Secret of the Grain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] (the main ingredient of couscous), as an “American dream” in reverse when presenting it to the Italian press.

"No one can succeed without the help of others,” said the French-Tunisian director. “This is the alarm I wanted to sound with my film, through a character who’s been denied a place in society despite his efforts".

Set to be distributed in Italy on January 11 by Lucky Red on 30 screens (at least three of which will be in the original version with subtitles), the film tells the story of a 60 year-old Maghreb naval worker in Sète (Marseilles), who dreams of opening a family-run restaurant on an old boat.

Out in France since December 12, The Secret of the Grain’s print run was quickly bumped up from 92 to 123 screens – for a total of 300,000 admissions in three weeks – and the film recently won the Louis-Delluc Prize for Best French Film of the Year. It is poised for further success at this year’s César Awards, after having snagged the Special Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Hafsia Herzi at the latest Venice Film Festival.

Missing out on the Golden Lion, however, still seems to smart: "I considered Venice to be the most suitable showcase for this film, but I overcame my disappointment with pride over having been at the festival," said Kechiche.

Sidestepping clichés, the director successfully offers an authentic portrait of daily life within the Maghreb immigrant community, with a technique that may seem “spontaneous” yet is actually the result of numerous hours of rehearsals and miles of film. For the climactic, belly-dancing scene alone, young Herzi danced for 40 minutes every evening for weeks.

Throughout the entire film, the director follows his characters tightly, as they cook, eat, discuss, argue, giving the viewer a sense of participating in their lives. "I wanted to show life beyond cinematic artifice – a social milieu and an environment that I know well – and to pay tribute to the first-generation immigrants, such as my father, to the heroes who had the immense courage to leave their home countries and endure countless humiliation with the single hope that their children would have a better life".

As an actor-director (he began in theatre and in cinema has worked with, among others, André Téchiné) Kechiche is sensitive to the role of actors.

"Having a very close relationship [with actors], feeling their moods is the basis of my work,” he says, emphasising that the only professional cast was Herzi. "In order to present life as it is, I asked them to really eat". Couscous, naturally. "Couscous is an expression of identity, a uniting element that offers a moment of union beyond all conflicts," he adds.

Kechiche is currently at work on new projects that different substantially from his previous films. "I’m working on a story set in the 18th century, a very expensive film,” he offered. “Everything depends on the financing. Producers are very sensitive to box office so we have to wait for the results of The Secret of the Grain”.

(Translated from Italian)