527 The Secret of the Grain

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Matt
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527 The Secret of the Grain

#1 Post by Matt » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:56 am

The Secret of the Grain

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2767/526_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img]

Winner of four César awards, including best picture and director, Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain is a stirring drama about the daily joys and struggles of a bustling French-Arab family. It has the texture of a documentary but a classic, almost Shakespearean structure: when patriarch Slimane acts on his wish to open a port-side restaurant specializing in his ex-wife’s fish couscous, the extended clan’s passions and problems explode in riveting drama, leading to an engrossing, suspenseful climax. With sensitivity and grit, The Secret of the Grain celebrates the role food plays in family life and gets to the core of contemporary immigrant experience.

DIRECTOR APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Abdellatif Kechiche (with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- New video interview with Kechiche
- Sueur, Kechiche’s captivating extended version of the film’s climactic belly dancing sequence, featuring a new introduction by the director
- New video interview with film scholar Ludovic Cortade
- Excerpt from a 20 heures television interview with Kechiche and actress Hafsia Herzi
- Video interviews with Herzi, actress Bouraouïa Marzouk, and the film’s musicians
- Theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Wesley Morris

Also available on Blu-ray.
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tajmahal
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Re: 526 The Secret of the Grain

#2 Post by tajmahal » Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:06 pm

It will be interesting to see the response to this film. Reviews and viewer ratings vary wildly, and a common criticism is of the length of the belly dance sequence, so the reaction to an extended version should provoke some stimulating banter.

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FilmFanSea
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Re: 526 The Secret of the Grain

#3 Post by FilmFanSea » Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:59 pm

tajmahal wrote:It will be interesting to see the response to this film. Reviews and viewer ratings vary wildly, and a common criticism is of the length of the belly dance sequence, so the reaction to an extended version should provoke some stimulating banter.
If it's anywhere as long as the (interminable) dance sequence in Tarr's Sátántangó, I think I'll pass (I say that as someone who really liked the Tarr film).

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franco
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#4 Post by franco » Sun Apr 25, 2010 3:07 am

There's a long belly dance sequence in this movie? Why didn't nobody tell me when I had a chance to see it in cinema? Guess it's because I didn't feel like reading any review. Screw Sátántangó, I am getting this.

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ellipsis7
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#5 Post by ellipsis7 » Sun Apr 25, 2010 5:01 am

This is a very fine film indeed, was released hereabouts under the title 'Couscous', it is set among an immigrant family in the port town of Sète in the South of France, and follows the struggle of the disillusioned 60 year old father to realise his dream to set up a restaurant, to develop some sense of purpose and realise a dregree of hope for a better life, drawing together the disparate members of his clan... It's wonderfully genuine and authentic piece, contrasting an immigrant's sense of racial and spiritual alienation with a rediscovery of a warm core of fundamental values through the medium of food and family, leading to a dramatic and ironic outcome...

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HistoryProf
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#6 Post by HistoryProf » Mon Jul 05, 2010 3:56 am

wow...no discussion of this whatsoever. Just that no one has seen it? I have not, but Ebert's review has made me want to more than anything else I've read.

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Brian C
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#7 Post by Brian C » Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:40 am

I saw it, and liked it well enough, but it was almost a year and a half ago already (January 29, 2009) and I find I don't have much to say about it. It's sorta just that kind of movie - enjoyable but pretty straightforward, not a lot to unravel. At least, not that I saw that first time and can remember now. It didn't seem like Ebert had much to say, either, as his review is comprised almost completely of synopsis with some boilerplate about "seeing these people live" thrown in for good measure.

I'm looking forward to seeing it again, although I'm unsure about how it will hold up under multiple viewings, and it will be a fairly low priority as far as the upcoming Criterions go. I don't remember the belly-dancing sequence being of undue length, FWIW.

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domino harvey
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#8 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:43 am

Cahiers du Cinema named it the sixth best film of the 00s

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criterionsnob
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#9 Post by criterionsnob » Fri Jul 16, 2010 12:24 am


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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#10 Post by cdnchris » Sat Jul 17, 2010 3:11 am


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Brian C
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#11 Post by Brian C » Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:46 pm

That first cap is very striking, chris. If it wasn't from a movie, it would be a very good photograph in its own right. Nice job grabbing that one.

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HistoryProf
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#12 Post by HistoryProf » Thu Jul 29, 2010 9:27 pm

Can someone explain this comment on FB about the blu ray?
I’m cravin’ couscous but not HD video. That About the Transfer section in the liner notes was one of the most depressing things ever. The Red One Camera, Panavision Genesis, and Arri ALEXA are nothing but hype. Peace.
there's another quip about DNR in the comments responding to their post about food in films...that can't possibly be an issue here is it? The film looks spectacular from the images chris posted...i'm very curious about this one.

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Minkin
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#13 Post by Minkin » Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:38 pm

HistoryProf wrote:there's another quip about DNR in the comments responding to their post about food in films...that can't possibly be an issue here is it? The film looks spectacular from the images chris posted...i'm very curious about this one.
I believe it is the line:
Secret of the Grain 'About the Transfer' section wrote:Shot on the HD Sony 900, this film was created entirely in the digital realm, without ever being output to a film element and transferred.

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Oedipax
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#14 Post by Oedipax » Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:41 pm

HistoryProf wrote:Can someone explain this comment on FB about the blu ray?
I’m cravin’ couscous but not HD video. That About the Transfer section in the liner notes was one of the most depressing things ever. The Red One Camera, Panavision Genesis, and Arri ALEXA are nothing but hype. Peace.
there's another quip about DNR in the comments responding to their post about food in films...that can't possibly be an issue here is it? The film looks spectacular from the images chris posted...i'm very curious about this one.
That post was written by a moron; I wouldn't worry about it. In a few more years there will only be a handful of new features made each year that this person considers worthy of watching.

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Brian C
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#15 Post by Brian C » Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:07 am

Yeah, that sounds stupid to me too. I saw it theatrically in 35mm, and it looked fine. Theoretically, it should look excellent if it hasn't left the digital pipeline.

With all respect, if that makes you nervous, it's really time to stop reading Facebook comments. I'm saying this for your own good.

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HistoryProf
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#16 Post by HistoryProf » Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:48 am

I wasn't nervous...as I said the caps I've seen looked spectacular...I was just curious as to what in the hell he was talking about since I hadn't heard anything remotely negative in the reviews I'd read.

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Brian C
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#17 Post by Brian C » Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:50 am

Ah, that's good. It was the "that can't possibly be an issue here is it" sentence that sounded like nervousness.

Nonetheless, Facebook comments can't be good for the mind or soul :)

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jbeall
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#18 Post by jbeall » Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:26 pm

Well, damn. The last hour is a phenomenal mix of hilarity and suspense (for some reason I'm thinking Playtime meets The Pink Panther meets Secrets and Lies), and the fallout of all these events can go in any number of different ways. To call it tragicomic would be putting it mildly.
SpoilerShow
This film is recent enough to warrant spoiler tags. I thought that Rym's belly-dance had held disaster off long enough for Souad to find the homeless man and give him the "poor man's plate," at which point the unfolding disaster would resolve into an at least mildly hopeful conclusion. After all, Latifa has had the time to run home and make couscous while it's all happening, and Slimane's daughters seem to be enjoying the belly-dance as much as the guests. But the film ends with Slimane's apparent heart attack, and after all, Latifa is rumored to be a horrible cook. So what happens? Does Slimane survive or not? Do Latifa and Rym save the day, or do Slimane's family resent them all the more? What about Majid and Julia? And so on...
I suppose the film's biggest weakness was the long and blatantly expository conversation by the band members a little over an hour in, but since the film was already such an unwieldy length, what else could Kechiche have done? It still sets up the last hour beautifully, and the acting performances are basically superb all around (especially from some of the minor characters; I'm not thinking only of Alice Houri as Julia, but also Mohamed Benabdeslem as Riadh, and also the family friends who serve as waitresses on opening night).

Ebert's comment that Kechiche "wants us to see these people live" seems a little wrong. The dialogue is at times too expository for the illusion to hold up. Aside from the band's conversation, the first dinner-table conversation falls into this trap at certain moments. Otherwise, however, the film does an admirable job of not turning any of the characters into cliches. I find it to be much more about class than about the racial background (not that the latter is entirely absent) of the main characters--even the competing restauranteurs are less concerned with the ethnicity of their competition than the fact that they are legit competition in a town where resources and clientele are already scarce.

Oh, and Hafsia Herzi (who plays Rym) is a total turn-on, even before the famed dance sequence. Just sayin'.

Mise En Scene
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#19 Post by Mise En Scene » Mon Aug 23, 2010 3:15 pm

I really want to catch up with Kechiche's Blame It on Voltaire as I love nearly all of L'esquive and lots of The Secret of the Grain. The only DVD I can find of Voltaire is on Amazon France. The DVD studio is One Plus One. Do their DVDs usually have English subtitles?

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tenia
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#20 Post by tenia » Mon Aug 23, 2010 3:46 pm

There are no subs at all on the One Plus One DVD of La faute à Voltaire.
Here is a scan from the DVD repackaging cover.

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Blame It on Voltaire

#21 Post by Mise En Scene » Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:14 am

tenia wrote:There are no subs at all on the One Plus One DVD of La faute à Voltaire.
Here is a scan from the DVD repackaging cover.
Thanks for the info. I just noticed that there are two editions from One Plus One. The scan you linked to is of the 2002 edition. What is the likelihood of the 2006 edition having English subs? Amazon's back cover image is too blurry.

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tenia
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#22 Post by tenia » Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:57 pm

I think it's only a repackaging of the same disc, so it won't have English sub either, but I'm not sure of that.

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rohmerin
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#23 Post by rohmerin » Wed Dec 29, 2010 7:14 pm

It's immeasurable. I have just watched and I'm in shock. What perfomances, what a film !

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HistoryProf
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#24 Post by HistoryProf » Mon May 30, 2011 3:53 am

finally caught up to this tonight and found it absolutely mesmerizing. Just an incredibly organic and absorbing glimpse into the life of a family. The final act is easily the most suspenseful showing of a late meal in cinematic history...I couldn't help but see the various parts of the drama as something from an episode of Three's Company, but Ms. Hafsia Herzi elevates it all into the realm of the sublime, and the ending was at once frustrating, harrowing, and tragic. As is my tendency, I could not help but want something more akin to closure to satisfy the enormous tension Kechiche expertly directed. Yet I also like that I can imagine salvation and success in Silmane's ultimate quest. Things most certainly may have gone horribly awry, but I like the thought of Rym's dance saving the restaurant and the blend of Souad's sauce and vegetables redeeming Latifa's mediocre grain, solemnly joining the families in the fulfillment of their patriarch's dream.

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ando
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Re: 527 The Secret of the Grain

#25 Post by ando » Sun Oct 30, 2011 7:39 am

jbeall wrote:I find it to be much more about class than about the racial background (not that the latter is entirely absent) of the main characters--even the competing restauranteurs are less concerned with the ethnicity of their competition than the fact that they are legit competition in a town where resources and clientele are already scarce.
Indeed. It's about education (and the lack thereof) as well. All of this figures into the patriarch's plans and overall approach.

I'm puzzled by the "Shakespearean" references in the descriptions and reviews. Unless it's an adaptation (and ignoring Orson Welles' quip about Shakespeare being a great screenwriter) how is any film Shakespearean?
HistoryProf wrote: Things most certainly may have gone horribly awry, but I like the thought of Rym's dance saving the restaurant and the blend of Souad's sauce and vegetables redeeming Latifa's mediocre grain, solemnly joining the families in the fulfillment of their patriarch's dream.
I wanted that kind of closure, too. Now that, to my mind, smacks of Shakespeare, e.g., content vs. narrative structure (and I'm not sure you can cleanly separate the two in film - or any art form, for that matter). The resolution, if I can call it that, shocked me a bit, honestly. In retrospect, I should have seen it coming as Kechiche seemed to be highlighting the outsider status of the patriarch and his business and emphasizing it with what happens to Slimane near the end. Children, apparently, are the standard bearers for their parent's values (or lack, thereof) within and outside of any given community. The film left me with that obvious though seldom admitted observation.

Image

A Times article that provides some interesting background info on the film.

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