La graine et le mulet

The gaunt, emaciated shipyard worker Slimane Beiji (Habib Boufares) is made redundant after working for more than 30 years in the port of Sète. Divorced from his wife, he lives with his partner and their daughter in a small hotel, yet still has a lot of contact with his big family. One of his sons advises him to use his redundancy money to retire to Tunisia, where he originally comes from. Yet Slimane wants to realize a long-harbored dream and convert an old ship into a restaurant offering Arab cuisine. Alternating between ellipses and lengthy scenes in real time (a couscous meal with ever-expanding cascades of dialogue at the beginning and a never-ending belly dance at the end), an unusual narrative emerges whose energetic heart is Slimane’s stepdaughter Rym, played by Hafsia Herzi. She talks a lot at a rapid pace, spurs Slimane on and ultimately tries to rescue his restaurant project with considerable physical effort. (bik)