The Secret of the Grain

The Secret of the Grain French La graine et le mulet , also released internationally as Couscous is a 2007 FrancoTunisian drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. The film stars Habib Boufares as an aging immigrant from the Maghreb whose ambition to establish a successful restaurant as an inheritance for his large and disparate family meets sceptical opposition from the French bureaucracy.

Slimane Beiji Habib Boufares is the divorced head of a FrancoArabic family living in Sete. As he is being forced out of his job at the local shipyard, he interacts in a series of extended vignettes with various members of his extended family including his exwife, his sons and daughters, their husbands and wives, and his grandchildren. Determined to leave a legacy for his beloved family, and encouraged by his longterm partners daughter, Rym, Hafsia Herzi he pursues his dream of converting a dilapidated boat into a family restaurant that will specialise in his exwifes fish couscous, a meal that she prepares for the entire family every Sunday.With Ryms enthusiastic help, Slimane applies for the relevant licences and loans, but soon finds himself kneedeep in bureaucratic red tape. Undaunted, Slimane enlists his sons to help with the renovation and arranges an opening gala of a large dinner party, to which he invites the many bureaucrats on whose decision the fate of the project rests, in an attempt to demonstrate the viability of the enterprise. On the night in question attendance is high, although notable by her absence is his longterm partner, Latifa. Insulted and threatened by the involvement of Slimanes exwife in the project, the restaurants cook and creator of the pivotal fish couscous, Latifa refuses to leave her hotel. Rym pleads with her to attend, encouraging her to use the opportunity to flaunt her comparative youth and beauty in front of Slimanes exwife, and eventually she concedes. ........

Source: Wikipedia