Most of the action takes place in cramped if homey domiciles in Tel Aviv, with only a few detours onto sidewalks or inside of a synagogue. Nearly the only modern-day intrusion into this hermetically sealed society is the booming techno-music beats of an outdoor Purim celebration, which are quickly muffled by the closing of a window.
With skilled deployment of long takes, lingering close-ups, repeated musical cues and meticulous lighting, director-writer Rama Burshtein — a Hasidic insider herself — never allows the intimacy to become too stifling, however. Instead, she vividly depicts a clannish culture that is likely to feel foreign and perhaps off-putting to generations that came of age in a progressive post-feminist era.
And yet the fair-minded will be able to discern the benefits of such a lifestyle, including strong extended family ties and a sense of a higher purpose, along with the drawbacks. In fact, Burshtein goes out of her way to show — as is the case in many old-world cultures — that despite initial appearances, in this society the fairer sex ultimately calls the shots.
Still, tradition still rules the roost. In this patriarchal society, married women hide their hair under a turban-like headpiece and often sit at a distance from the men as they drink their wine, chant, and conduct religious readings and rituals. Young females like Shira (played by delicate beauty Hadas Yaron with an uncompromised honesty that is both refreshing and frustrating) are indoctrinated into accepting that their mates will be chosen for them, though they do have the right to refuse.
But as Shira and her mother (Irit Sheleg, whose Rivka is far stronger than her outward demeanor suggests) stalk possible suitors at grocery stores, a tragedy perhaps too conveniently upends their plans. The family's older daughter, the 9-months-pregnant Esther, suddenly drops dead and leaves her newborn son and a grieving husband behind. Rivka goes into manipulation mode, pushing Shira to marry her brother-in-law, Yochay (Yiftach Klein), to prevent him from whisking her grandson off to Belgium, where an eager-to-wed widow awaits.
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