Slimane Beiji (Habib Boufares) is a taciturn sixty-three year-old man, weather-beaten from working for thirty years repairing boats at the local shipyard from where he’s just been retrenched. The port is in the small fishing town of Sète on the French Mediterranean coast, but Slimane and his family are originally from Lebanon and are still somewhat seen as outsiders.

The Secret of the Grain is the heartwarming, multi-prizewinning film from director Abdel Kechiche about the struggles of a man trying to hold his family together. Separated from his wife, Slimane lives in a rundown local hotel owned by his new partner Latifah (Hatika Karaoui). He is still very close to all of his adult children as well as his wife and they regularly congregate for large sumptuous meals of couscous.

With the help of Latifah’s daughter Rym (Hafsia Herzi), Slimane decides that he will open a restaurant on an old boat that will serve his wife’s couscous. He struggles against government bureaucracy, banks, and his troublesome family to make it a success.

The Secret of the Grain is a graceful film that in its small way manages to encapsulate the open-bordered polyglot ideal of the new Europe. There’s a large ensemble cast, but there are no half-baked characters. You’ll recognise members of your own family. With the performances from mostly non-actors astonishing in their honesty, with Hafsia Herzi as Rym absolutely shining. In fact the entire film exudes a feeling of warmth and honesty. Scenes play out as scenes do in real life. It’s not clever dialogue from an overworked script, and the handheld camera catches the action simply and without flourish.

At two and a half hours the length of the film may frustrate some viewers, especially the final sequence, but it didn’t drag for me at all.  The Secret of the Grain is uplifting and tragic, honest and unforgiving, and just like the couscous, a simple joy to behold.

The Secret of the Grain rates 4 1/2 stars.