The clash between a modern,
secular woman's desire for independence and her ties to the Rabbinical
establishment that wants to dominate her life is the main theme of Avanim,
a powerful French/Israeli drama by Raphael Nadjari. Set in the Hatikva
district of Tel Aviv, Michale (Asi Levi) fulfills the roles expected of
her. She is a dutiful wife, mother to a bright five-year old son, and loyal
worker in her father's accounting firm. We know that things are not all
right, however, when we see her having an afternoon affair with a lover,
of whom we know next to nothing. Shooting in a close-up, intimate style
with a hand-held camera and improvisational acting, we follow Michale going
through the routine of her existence, mostly in moody silence, bringing
her boy to a pre-school, being late in picking him up, and wearily greeting
her husband late in the evening.
Her Sephardic husband
Shmoulik (Danny Steg), a building contractor, is a burly, decent fellow
but does not seem to provide the emotional gratification Michale is seeking.
Her life becomes more tightly wound when she discovers her father's (Uri
Gabriel) complicity in a scheme to pad the number of students to attract
money from the government for the construction of a new Yeshiva. When her
lover is killed in a suicide bombing, however, long stifled emotions come
to the surface and she is forced to deal with the conflicts of her life
in an uncompromising manner..
There are no entirely
sympathetic characters in Avanim. The father is wearing ethical blinders
and the husband seems unconscious of his wife's emotional needs. While
Michale is more sympathetic, she rebels in covert ways without openly communicating
her feelings to her family or considering the emotional consequences of
her behavior for her son. For example, she stays out all night without
telling anyone where she is while her husband and father are understandably
frantic. While Asi Levi delivers a strong performance as the restless,
dissatisfied housewife, the script never crystallizes the issues and, in
spite of a melodramatic ending, lacks an emotional payoff.