It’s not anti-Semitic to mention the importance of dispute in Jewish culture; the questioning and counter-questioning is hardwired into the religion since the days of the Patriarchs. Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz’s fine courtroom drama demonstrates what it’s like to be a petitioner at the mercy of an Israeli rabbinical court, particularly during the complicated process of obtaining a divorce (a gett, in Hebrew).
“Trial” isn’t the wrong word—there are continuations over the course of five years with waiting periods of mandatory reconciliation for the couple. Viviane (Elkabetz), a French-speaking Jewish woman from Morocco, is trying to end her marriage to her husband Elisha (Simon Abkarian). He stalls it out passively, not showing up for the hearings, and refusing to testify.
And Elisha has hired his own brother Shimon (Sasson Gabai) as his attorney. Shimon, a growling advocate, provides the George C. Scott element in this drama—but he also provides the humor. He’s a very dirty fighter, who accuses Viviane of adultery with her lawyer Carmel (Menashe Noy). But Shimon is also a pipsqueak chauvinist, and Viviane has to suppress a laugh at the brother in law leveling his charges against her. The laughter ends when Shimon lists the reasons to stay in a loveless marriage: “He helps in the house, he doesn’t beat you… when he sings in the synagogue, even the birds stop to listen.” Viviane expresses her spirit with a grim smile, or by unwinding her long hair to affright the trio of rabbis judging her case. Neither meekness nor rage can move a court that considers divorce something that a man deigns to give a woman, after she’s been humbled first.
Elkabetz holds the camera with great skill. Through its claustrophobia and muted hues, this drama gives you a new appreciation of color and freedom. Gett has Viviane addressing the court, straight at the camera: “One day, someone will take the power from your hands.” That’s thick, but there are injustices so deep that only melodrama can address them.
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem
(unrated, 115 min.)
Directed by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz. Starring Ronit Elkabetz, Simon Abkarian and Sassion Gabai. Now playing in San Jose at Camera Cinemas.)
