THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN
synopsis
At the port of Sète Mr. Slimani, a tired sixty year old, drags himself towards a shipyard job which has become more and more difficult to cope with as the years go by. He is a divorced father who forces himself to stay close to his family despite the scissions and tensions which are easily sparked off and which financial difficulties make even more intense. He is going through a delicate period in his life and recently, everything seems to make him feel useless; a failure. He wants to escape from it all and set up his own restaurant. However it appears to be an unreachable dream given his meagre, irregular salary which is not anywhere near enough to supply what he needs to realise his ambition. But he can still dream and talk about it with his family in particular. A family which gradually recompacts around this project which comes to symbolise the means to a better life. Thanks to their ingeniousness and hard work this dream soon becomes a reality... Or almost...
international title: | The Secret of the Grain |
original title: | La graine et le mulet |
country: | France |
sales agent: | Pathé International |
year: | 2007 |
genre: | fiction |
directed by: | Abdellatif Kechiche |
release date: | BE 12/12/2007, FR 12/12/2007, IT 11/01/2008, NL 17/04/2008, UK 20/06/2008, DE 04/09/2008, ES 30/01/2009 |
screenplay: | Abdellatif Kechiche |
cast: | Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Sabrina Ouazani, Leïla D'Issernio, Mélèze Bouzid, Rosalie Symon, Bruno Lochet, Mohamed Ben Abdeslem, Olivier Loustau |
cinematography by: | Lubomir Bakchev |
film editing: | Ghalya Lacroix |
art director: | Benoît Barouh |
costumes designer: | Maria Beloso |
producer: | Claude Berri, Pierre Grunstein |
production: | Pathé Films, Hirsch, TF1 Films Production |
backing: | Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) |
distributor: | Pathé Distribution, Lucky Red (IT), Artificial Eye (UK), Cinéart (NL), Arsenal Filmverleih (DE), Vértigo Films (ES) |