Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intimate epic, 30 Oct 2008
I first heard of this film while staying with friends in Paris. It made a huge splash over there. They were raving about it. In France it is known as "La Graine et le Mulet", a title which far better suits this timeless parable. The story is expertly crafted and deceptively simple. Like the greatest stories, this one is archetypal.
Slimane is an old, poor and patriarchal North African divorcee. He repairs boats for a living until he's fired, at which point he decides to pursue his life-long ambition of opening a couscous restaurant on a boat, the chef being his ex-wife. Assisted by his partner's precocious daughter, Slimane sets about jumping the various hurdles that lay in his path. Out of this scenario, the writer-director wrings buckets of drama.
Essentially "Couscous" is a domestic drama, but that dry description hardly seems to do it justice. Slimane is like the titular character in "The Old Man and the Sea". He faces insurmountable odds but he quietly perseveres to the bitter end. He's no angel: he's stubborn and set in his ways. But he's all the more convincingly human for it, and you can't help but care for the man. In fact all of the characters are such engaging archetypes. This is, in no small measure, helped by the fact that all of the performances are faultlessly truthful and compelling.
This is a huge achievement by the writer/director. The camera, which never draws attention to itself, watches while the drama unfolds, it seems, totally spontaneously. It appears so improvised, but it can't be, the story is so perfectly crafted.
The storytelling is incredibly understated and the tension creeps up on you effortlessly and by surprise. In fact, I may've hit upon why the description "domestic drama" doesn't do this film justice. Because domestic dramas are so often bereft of. . . drama. And by drama I mean conflict and tension. They tend to confuse drama for sentiment. But this film, whilst it takes its time and never rushes, will slowly suck you in and have you glued to the screen until the very end.
Even if you usually don't go for this kind of thing, I would strongly recommend to anyone to give this film a shot.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Marvellous and touching movie, 24 Dec 2008
A detailed and at times very touching movie that takes us into the inner lives of immigrants in France. We share their hopes, their fears, their animosities as they seek to make a living in a host society that keeps them on the edge, at best patronising them ('at least they don't want to put up a mosque'). Each of the characters comes alive: Slimane, now too old to work, dogged by ill luck, but still determined to succeed in his new enterprise; the many strong and very vocal women who surround him; the young men with a roving eye; the elders of the community who pull together to help Slimane. Above all, this is a film about real people, employing a naturalistic dialogue that sounds improvised but clearly isn't - artistry of a very high order. My only complaint is that the film was a bit long, and spoilt by the rather gratuitous (and lengthy) dancing towards the end, somewhat reminiscent of a similar, but funnier, episode at Basil Fawlty's gourmet night.
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7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some good parts some not so good, 6 Nov 2008
An interesting story of immigrant people from North Africa living in France. In the style of Ken Roach with very natural ad libbed conversations between family members. Some of this was very funny.
Slimane is an older guy who is made redundant from a ship repair business. He decides on the idea of making a restaurant on an old boat. Nothing is that easy, which is the reality of business anywhere. He ploughs on through family problems and overcomes hurdles until the tragic end.
I especially liked the bit where his old pals chat outside a cafe, commenting, criticizing Slimane, gossiping about his tangled love life. This was fantastically realistic talk and was absolutely spot on. This bit was absolutely brilliant with their back stabbing.
As the film progressed though and the final part took place on the boat where the couscous disappeared I found it getting a bit tiresome. Slimanes girlfriend's daughter did a spontaneous bit of belly dancing which I found especially seedy and unpleasant, especially with the overlong focus on her body. I wasn't aware that Belly dancing is supposed to be blatantly sexual and a girl of 15 sidling up seductively to men well old enough to be grandfathers appears sordid. It was not surprising therefore to know that the actress had never been taught belly dancing and just made it up.
Knowing a little, tiny bit about North African cooking I was also surprised at the big hoo hah about the couscous disappearance as couscous only takes a minute to make, even in large quantities and I wasn't sure that it should be reheated. So that all seemed a bit funny too.
All in all quite an interesting film with some good bits and some bad. Personally I thought that the actor playing Slimane was hugely over rated by some critics. He didn't seem to act much at all throughout.
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