Rama Burshtein sets her social drama among the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Tel Aviv. Shira (Hadas Yaron) is 18, and the adults are beginning the process of marrying her off. In this world, marriages are arranged, but Shira’s wholehearted consent is necessary.
Then her sister Esther (Renana Raz) dies in childbirth, and widower Yochai (Yiftach Klein) proposes to remarry and move to Belgium with a new wife and his baby son. Shira’s mother (a notably harsh Irit Sheleg) cannot bear this, and she comes up with a scheme: Why shouldn’t Shira marry Yochai?
The social setting is intriguing enough. Burshtein is Orthodox herself, and the film offers a rare chance to see that world from an insider’s perspective. Here, human needs must conform to ritual, and not the other way round.
When the mourning family is repeatedly told, “May God comfort you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem,” it’s easy to see how ancient and unvarying words give aid.
Trouble is, while the social milieu is nicely realized, other parts of the drama are not. Too often Burshtein cuts off a scene prematurely, darting away just as the crucial moment of emotion or confrontation appears.
It’s obviously not a subculture in which people have wide-ranging heart-to-heart talks, but there is little in the way of action to compensate. Poignant close-ups are no substitute for character development.