La Graine et le mulet

(France, 2007, 154 minutes)

A laid-off shipyard worker decides to invest his buyout money in opening a restaurant, with the help of his family, but things don't go according to plan. Breathtaking, sweeping melodrama of modern society transported by extraordinary performances from a mostly non-professional ensemble cast, handled with generosity and intelligence.

A Pathé release. Claude Berri presents a Hirsch/Pathé Renn Productions/France 2 Cinéma co-production, with the participation of Canal Plus, Cinécinéma, Banque Populaire Images 6 and Centre National de la Cinématographie. Starring Habib Boufarès, Hafsia Herzi, Faridah Benkhetache, Abdelhamid Aktouche, Bouraouïa Marzouk, Alice Houri, Cyril Favre, Leila d'Issernio, Abdelkader Djeloulli, Bruno Lochet, Olivier Loustau, Sami Zitouni, Sabrina Ouazani, Mohamed Benabdeslem, Hatika Karaoui, Henri Rodriguez, Nadia Taouil. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche; produced by Claude Berri; written by Abdellatif Kechiche, Ghalya Lacroix; director of photography (Eclair), Lubomir Bakchev; production designer, Benoît Barouh; costume designer, Maria Beloso Hall; film editores, Ghalya Lacroix, Camille Toubkis.