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Secret of the Grain, The

EMAILPRINTIFC Films

Secret of the Grain, The reviews
83
8.6 User Score:

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Abdel Kechiche

Directed by: Abdel Kechiche

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 24, 2008

Running Time: 151 minutes, Color

Origin: France

Language(s): French | Arabic | Russian

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi, and Farida Benkhetache

The Secret of the Grain is a touching and resoundingly humanistic story set in the rustic port of Sete in southeastern France. Slimane has worked in the same shipyard job for over 35 years, when his growing dissatisfaction prompts him to try to open his own restaurant. His dream seems unbelievable, but his contagious conviction and persistence work their way into the hearts of his loyal but dispersed family; the four children from his first marriage, his ex-wife, current girlfriend and her bright, outspoken daughter, Rym. A grand film about ordinary people, The Secret of the Grain is a deliciously slow-burning drama about fate, food and family. (IFC Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New York Times A.O. Scott

An entire family chronicle, along with four decades of French social and economic history, is recapitulated as a lavish, hectic dinner, complete with music and belly dancing. It will leave you stunned and sated, having savored an intimate and sumptuous epic of elation and defeat, jealousy and tenderness, life and death, grain and fish.

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100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The title embraces the richness of Kechiche's beautiful film, which captures the rhythms of displacement and hardship, the bond of family meals, and even the daily routines of the magnificent women who are part of Slimane's life.

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100

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Given the movie's slow, careful development, I was hardly prepared for the cold-sweat suspense of the last half hour.

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100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Takes one man, his children, their spouses and babies, his ex-wife, his girlfriend, her daughter, and his friends and turns it all into a masterpiece about the strange power of food - to heal, unite, exasperate.

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90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Rather than observing this family, we feel we are part of it, and that draws us in as nothing else can.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The Secret of the Grain never slows, always engages, may continue too long, but ends too soon. It is made of life itself.

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88

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

For me, it's a sign that a filmmaker is on to something if you love hanging out with the characters as they eat and drink and talk and reveal little bits of themselves through everyday action.

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83

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The Secret Of The Grain stretches out at the relaxed pace of a seven-course meal, but at the end of it, Kechiche has squeezed the most he can out of percolating dramas within the family and he lets the audience get to know its members without needing to throw them all a subplot.

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80

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Kechiche takes his time, allowing us to know the characters as if we live next door. But be warned: for those who come to feel like a member of the family, the unexpected end may seem strikingly unfair.

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80

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Richly enjoyable and consistently surprising.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The cast is solid, with standout performances by first-timer Habib Boufares as Slimane.

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75

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie is a parable of patriarchal pride as well as a paradigm of how immigrant groups can accomplish goals without any help from their host culture.

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70

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Escalates into visceral allegory with an abandon and cruelty that seem positively Romanian. The last 30 minutes more than redeem the preceding two hours.

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70

The New Yorker David Denby

Kechiche digs a good story out of the flux, and, in the movie's final forty minutes, the suspense is terrific.

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60

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

A penchant for suffocating close-ups and an overabundance of scenes that go on far too long mar Abdellatif Kechiche's The Secret of the Grain, an otherwise engaging drama about an immigrant Arab family in France.

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50

Variety Alissa Simon

An overlong, dramatically unbalanced picture whose emotional wallop gets somewhat diffused.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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