The Secret of the Grain (La graine et le mulet) (2007)

Yes, they have movies in Europe but I didn't go to any. So sue me. However, on my 8 hour flight from Rome to New York Monday each seat had a screen with dozens of free video choices. The movie list was long, including Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, Defiance, and other first-class (in coach) ones, kids' movies, and easy, fluffy choices (more on that later). I remembered typing La graine et le mulet in the 2008 list of award winners/nominations. It was a foreign film nominee (France) for the Independent Spirit Awards; won 4 César Awards (France's Oscars); for Best Director (Abdel Kechiche AKA Abdellatif Kechiche), Best Film (Kechiche (director), Claude Berri (producer)), Best Writing - Original (Kechiche), Most Promising Actress (Hafsia Herzi), as well as 13 other awards in France and elsewhere. The movie takes some time to get going, but relax -- if you're going to watch it, you'll be at it 2-1/2 hours (I took longer because I took breaks and occasionally looked at Amy's screen next to me, where she watched Milk and Frost/Nixon. Some scenes do not push the plot forward but draw the viewer into the world of the Tunisian immigrants who live in the French port town of Séte. All I knew of the plot was that it was about a divorced man, and Slimane (Habib Boufares, no other credits on imdb) didn't appear for several minutes, so I had to guess who the protagonist was -- not the tour operator (Majid, one of Slimane's sons, played by Sami Zitouni) in the seemingly random opening sequence which turned out to be pivotal to the third act. Boufares' performance reminds me of Richard Jenkins (The Visitor): quiet and tormented, slow to smile. Slimane has 3 more adult children, as well as a close avuncular relationship with the lovely daughter, Rym (Herzi, in her film debut, with 3 more movies released since this came out and 6 in the future), of his girlfriend Latifa (Hatika Karaoui). This was really good and I recommend it! A note on the translated title: as usual, it's inaccurate and inappropriate. There's no secret of the grain, which is couscous, other than the ex-wife's great recipe that is enjoyed by the whole extended family, including Rym, who barely slows her constant chatter to tuck into hers with great gusto. In Britain, the movie was called Couscous, which would have been somewhat better. But the original title says it all, because her couscous is made with mullet, a kind of fish (in French, mulet).