(The Secret of the Grain)

CAST: Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, Farida Benkhetache, Bouraouia Marzouk; DIRECTOR: Abdel Kechiche

From the staple of a diet to the staple of a character, a “grain” signifies many things. In this multiple-award-winning film, writer-director Abdel Kechiche utilises the first to explore the second.

A North African delicacy imported to many parts of the world, couscous, rests at the centre of this story of an immigrant still trying to find his feet in a port in France 35 years after he arrived.

For Souad (Marzouk), who is estranged from husband Slimane Beji (Boufares), the dish is more than just pasta, sauce, vegetables and fish. It’s a labour of love, and it lights up the lunches the extended family shares in a crowded kitchen on Sunday afternoons.

Slimane no longer finds a place at the table, though Souad makes it a point to send some couscous across to the hotel where he rents a room. She as well as their children know that Slimane has found love and a new family there in the hotel-owner and her sultry daughter Rym (Herzi), but that doesn’t come in the way of the dish. Slimane eats it with relish, sharing it with Rym. She is angry at how Slimane’s family treats her mother and her, but she can never say no to couscous.

Sixty-one and barely able to meet his bills, Slimane is one day told he is too slow for the work demanded of him at the dockyard. Dejected, he gets thinking about what he has achieved since leaving his home country and what he is leaving behind for his estranged wife and children.

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