@pyramide.distribu La comédie la plus savoureuse de cette fin d'année vous attend au cinéma ! LA PETITE CUISINE DE MEHDI d'Amine Adjina avec Younès Boucif, Clara Bretheau, Hiam Abbass et Malika Zerrouki. #onregardequoi #filmtok #cinema #lapetitecuisinedemehdi ♬ son original - Pyramide Distribution

Tables of Memory, Songs of Sorrow

Cheb Hasni’s Sbaart Ou Tal Adabi and La Petite Cuisine de Mehdi share a hidden bridge: both transform personal suffering into communal resonance. Hasni’s raï ballad, born of heartbreak and patience, echoes the same emotional architecture that Mehdi builds in his kitchen—where recipes become vessels of family memory and dual culture. Just as Hasni’s voice carries the pain of longing into collective song, Mehdi’s dishes carry the bittersweet taste of heritage into shared meals. In both, the private ache of identity and love is remixed into a public ode to resilience and belonging.

🎶 🎥🍲🌊🫒⚽🐪🎸🍋🐟💃🕌🌴✨🌍🇩🇿 🔊 Cheb Hasni - (صبرت و طال عذابي) Sbaart Ou Tal Adabi | I’ve been patient and my suffering has lasted long

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La Petite Cuisine de Mehdi (released December 10, 2025) is a dramedy by Amine Adjina that explores the tensions and tenderness of Franco‑Algerian dual culture through food, family, and humor.

Starring Younès Boucif and Hiam Abbass, the film blends vaudevillian misunderstandings, culinary heritage, and raï music to create a story that is both lighthearted and profound.

🍲 A First Film Between Theater and Cinema

Amine Adjina, a theater director born in Paris to Algerian parents, makes his debut feature film here. After ten years on stage, he brings his sense of dialogue and rhythm into a feel‑good comedy set in the kitchens of a Parisian bistro. The protagonist, Mehdi (Younès Boucif, pre‑nominated for the César Awards 2026), is a young chef who dreams of taking over the restaurant Le Baratin. But he is caught in a whirlwind of lies as he tries to balance his overbearing Algerian mother (Malika Zerrouki) and his French girlfriend (Clara Bretheau). This identity tension becomes the driving force of a narrative where cooking is both a profession and a symbol of transmission.

🎭 Vaudeville and Dual Culture

The film adopts the codes of vaudeville: misunderstandings, false identities, and disastrous consequences. Hiam Abbass plays Souhila, a friend who agrees to act as a “fake mother” to smooth things over. With her blonde wig and Hermès scarf, she adds a burlesque yet elegant touch. Beneath the humor, the film tackles deeper themes: family pressure, prejudices tied to origins, and the difficulty of building oneself between two cultures. Adjina uses comedy to question collective memory and Franco‑Algerian relations, giving his story both political and emotional resonance.

🎶 A Soundtrack Between Melancholy and Raï

Music by Amine Bouhafa plays an essential role. His orchestral score, dominated by strings, highlights unspoken emotions and counterbalances the lightness of the situations. The film also integrates emblematic titles from Algerian repertoire: Cheb Hasni (Sbaart ou tal adabi, Tal Ghiyabek), Cheb Nani (Je t’aime encore), Cheb Bello (Manich kima bakri), Cheba Chinou (Bent kartier populair), as well as contemporary tracks like Hinata by TIF. A dance scene on La Hafla (Acid Arab feat. Sofiane Saidi) aboard a train becomes a powerful metaphor: a France dancing together despite its differences. Finally, the end credits feature an original song, Chkoun Nti, composed by Bouhafa and performed by Claire Days and Sofiane Saidi.

🌍 Between France and Algeria, A Trilogy Announced

La Petite Cuisine de Mehdi is conceived as the first part of a trilogy. Adjina intends to explore, film after film, the many facets of dual cultural belonging. This opening chapter highlights cuisine as a place of memory and confrontation, but also as a space of reconciliation. Dishes become bridges between generations, while humor serves to defuse tensions. The project illustrates a desire to warm relations between France and Algeria through fiction, showing that behind clichés lie universal stories of family and love.

✨ A Tender and Flavorful Comedy

With a runtime of 1h44, distributed by Pyramide Distribution, the film has charmed critics and audiences with its mix of tenderness and fantasy. Younès Boucif confirms his talent in a complex leading role, while Hiam Abbass brings iconic presence. Adjina demonstrates his skill with words and situations, turning a plot of lies into a reflection on identity. La Petite Cuisine de Mehdi is not merely a culinary comedy: it is a fresco on belonging, memory, and the possibility of dancing together despite differences.

#Family 🍲 #Identity 🌍 #Raï 🎶 #Cinema 🎬 #Mediterranean ☀️