Also known in Couscous in some countries, the film looks long-winded and it certainly is. But it also offers compellingly interesting portraits of a beleaguered family -- in this case, an Arab family from Tunisia living in a small French harbour. The film, which has won major awards in France and was a box office hit in the US, has several unforgettable performances.
Habib Boufares playing the 61-year-old former shipyard worker torn between the children from his first marriage and the new woman in his life speaks little but his magnetic eyes and gestures bring out the conflict within the character. The most effective of all the performers is Hafsia Herzi, the stepdaughter of the old man, who fights against odds to make her stepfather's dream of starting a fish and couscous restaurant a reality.
The film is written and directed Abdellatif Kechiche, a Tunisian filmmaker who lives in France. He offers not only a vivid portrait of Arab families but also about the subtle and not-so-subtle challenges immigrants face. There is a lot of gentle humour in the film. Watch for the scene in which a desperate mother tries to toilet-train her little girl.
The ending may seem a bit contrived and in some countries, deliberately sexy, but watch young Herzi's painful expression as she stages an act that saves the inauguration of the restaurant turn into a disaster.
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