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Couscous (2007)

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche

Time Out rating

Average user rating

22 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Set in the French port of Sète, director Abdel Kechiche’s ‘Couscous’ is a rich and quietly surprising portrait of that town’s French-Tunisian community. Basically an ensemble piece, it pokes into the lives of the two extended families belonging to a separated, 60-year-old immigrant shipworker, Slimane (Habib Boufares). When unemployment hits, it is the grain and red mullet dish his estranged wife so lovingly prepares which he hopes may prove the central selling point of a new restaurant he plans to open on a reconditioned quayside barge.

The special quality of ‘Couscous’ doesn’t lie in its story – it’s the kind of film where you wish for less story rather than more – but in how well it manages to immerse us in the lives of this relatively isolated microcosm. It provides a series of scenes that genuinely sparkle with life and spontaneity – notably a delightful, talky family lunch presided over by Slimane’s wife, where cinematographer Lubomir Bakchev’s mainly hand-held camera fast pans from close-up to close-up, beautifully capturing emotions on the wing.

The performances, too, developed in extensive workshops, are superb, with two standouts. The first is Boufares, who is particularly touching and impressive as a prideful man coping in his own way with dislocation, disappointment and redundancy. The other is Hafsia Herzi as his ‘adopted’ daughter, whose bolder, more street-wise manner belies an equal, if different, second-generation immigrant’s vulnerability to the problems of cultural assimilation.

Finally, Kechiche is very successful at placing a gnawing tension at the heart of his film – not least the discomforting doubt over whether this reticent, flawed but deeply sympathetic old guy will succeed – even if he proves less adept at resolving it. The ending – to this writer’s mind – is dramatically and artistically misjudged, but, nevertheless, it remains a remarkable and thought-provoking work.

Author: Wally Hammond 2007-10-22 15:46:13

Time Out London Issue 1974, June 18-25, 2008

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User reviews of this film

katkin said...

Posted on Jul 10 2008 20:01 This film could have been a masterpiece if it had been an hour shorter. As it was it came across as a boring, overlong vehicle for the director's ego.

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Eli said...

Posted on Jul 09 2008 01:41 Two different societies trying to coexist while sharing common human short comings. The proud and stubborn father will not see his dream come true.He survived incredible difficulties to open his restaurant, but the next generation's behavior will defeat him. we want to believe that as he has already inspired the 2 families to cooperate, they will not need him to seize the new prospect in life he granted them.Their future success is plausible even though the ending does not spell it out. The acting was superb.

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sakura said...

Posted on Jul 04 2008 23:43 Massively overrated, hugely disappointing. 1.5 hours too long

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Rosalyn said...

Posted on Jul 02 2008 22:14 Would have been much better if it had been at least half an hour shorter. I found myself desperate for it to end.

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john said...

Posted on Jun 27 2008 19:53 interesting view of immigrant community, found ending was dragged out too much and some of couscous was over cooked..thought the french were made to look negative, are they really like that?

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Philippe said...

Posted on Jun 27 2008 08:43 Very beautiful and thought-provoking film. Not sure whether I agree that the ending was misjudged as mentioned by the TO critic.

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Phil said...

Posted on Jun 24 2008 12:49 A very French film that's not too far off Rohmer, I thought; a humane film about some infuriating people.

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