Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
A film by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz
2014 / Israel/ 115 minutes
5.45 pm / 10th April / Perks Mini
Theater
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“Gett, The Trial of
Viviane Amsalem” is the story of a woman wronged by men and God, if finally, in
a sense, redeemed by cinema. Gett is the Hebrew word for a legal divorce
document in Jewish law. This is the ordeal of a woman’s attempt to divorce her
husband under the strict religious laws of Israel. There’s no such thing as
civil divorce in Israel, where, even today, the termination of a marriage
cannot be granted — or even enforced, regardless of grounds — without the
husband’s consent.
Shot entirely in the
limited space of a courtroom and using uniquely subjective visual aesthetic,
“Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” is Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz’s third
feature film as a directing team. Ronit Elkabetz also stars in the film as
Viviane, a character they developed based on their mother’s life.
Viviane — brought to
powerful life by Ronit Elkabetz with currents of humility and hauteur — is at
once a fleshed-out character, a political metaphor, a shout to heaven and
earth. Despite a part requiring long periods of silence, her character’s
emotions are as visible — and as changeable — as clouds passing in the sky.
The film depicts the
last two years of struggle during which the adamant three-rabbi court tries
every means to convince her to remake the couple. The action takes place almost
entirely in two rooms, a Jerusalem Bet Din (Rabbinical Court) and its waiting
room. Despite the seemingly uncinematic
nature of this inert, even claustrophobic scenario, the film mesmerizes,
utterly. It’s at once a feminist film, obviously, and a larger story about
diminishing the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) authority and influence in Israeli
life.
Ronit Elkabetz & Shlomi Elkabetz
Israeli film makers sister-brother duo Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz
have made three films together.
Ronit Elkabetz actress
/ film maker was the oldest of four children, with three younger siblings who
were all brothers. Her younger brother Shlomi, became a director whom she
worked with on their trilogy on the life of Viviane Amsalem.Her acting career
started in 1991. n May 2010, Ronit Elkabetz received the France Culture award
at the Cannes Film Festival, a prize awarded to filmmakers for quality work and
social involvement. The judges described her as a "woman teeming with
passion and erotica, who can even play the queen of Egypt
Shlomi Elkabetz was
born in 1972 in Be'er Sheva,Israel. After completing his military service, he
decided he wanted to work in film. He traveled in the Far East and went on to
New York, where he remained for seven years. He wrote prose and plays, and also
acted; at a certain stage he and Ronit began to write the screenplay for
"To Take a Wife," incorporating into it autobiographical elements. In
2000 he returned to Israel. The film, which came out five years later, won
various prizes, including the Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival.
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