The Secret of the Grain
IFC Films | Release Date: December 24, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.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. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Given the movie's slow, careful development, I was hardly prepared for the cold-sweat suspense of the last half hour. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeWesley 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. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Rather than observing this family, we feel we are part of it, and that draws us in as nothing else can. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Secret of the Grain never slows, always engages, may continue too long, but ends too soon. It is made of life itself. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael 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. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott 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. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth 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. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Richly enjoyable and consistently surprising. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The cast is solid, with standout performances by first-timer Habib Boufares as Slimane. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael 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. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. 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. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Kechiche digs a good story out of the flux, and, in the movie's final forty minutes, the suspense is terrific. Read full review
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