IT’S QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENT FOR ANY TITLE TO CARRY OFF BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR AND BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY FROM FRANCE’S ANNUAL CESAR AWARDS, YET THIS EXPANSIVE SLICE OF LIFE FROM TUNIS-BORN WRITER-DIRECTOR ABDELLATIF KECHICHE DID PRECISELY THAT.
In part the film is a tribute to Kechiche’s father’s generation, as North African emigrant Slimane (Habib Boufares), having toiled away for decades in the boatyard of the French Mediterranean port of Sete, is edged towards redundancy by the availability of even cheaper transient labour. Adamant that he wants to leave something behind for his children, he sinks everything into his dream of a floating couscous restaurant in the town’s tourist-magnet harbour. Dreaming though, turns out to be the easy bit…
While the plot certainly builds to a genuine cliff-hanger, the film’s real strength is its vivid portrait of this North African community. As Kechiche lets the camera roll on family gatherings and mounting emotional crises, there’s a palpable feeling of documentary-style authenticity, where the warmth of a generous Sunday lunch later gives way to simmering animosities between the protagonist’s children with different women. While the youngsters are certainly more confidently assimilated into French society, for instance, the old country’s traditions of neighbourliness and charity don’t seem to have made the transition as well as the Arabic still spoken at home. The humane fluidity of the storytelling impresses immensely here, since the film never seems to be point-scoring, allowing instead an affecting emotional investment in these resilient lives, and never surrendering to the blandishments of upbeat platitudes. It’s very wise and rather wonderful.—Trevor Johnston.



Abdel Kechiche’s earlier film ‘L’esquive’ is also showing this month. Click here for details.