Fünf Tage ohne Nora

"Death hath so many doors to let out life." Beaumont and Fletcher

Jose's (Fernando Lujan) ex-wife, Nora, of 20 years has died, and he is left with the arrangements. Not to worry because she has placed notes on Tupperware in the fridge and left instructions for everyone about the wake. Problem is, as she well knew, Jews may not bury during Passover, so Jose has to deal with preserving the corpse over the weekend and yielding to the strict Jewish prescriptions.

Yet Jose long ago lost his faith along with his wife, who by the way has committed suicide after the 14th try. Under Jewish law, she may not be buried in the main part of the cemetery, just another barrier for Jose.

And so it goes in this small but poignant tale of Judeo-Christian practices in turmoil and more importantly the roiling of Jose's inner dialogue as he realizes his wife was unfaithful to him while they were married. Besides the amusing struggle with the Orthodox Rabbi, Jose confronts a son who is too tied to his father-in-law and a close physician friend with a painful secret. Call it Secret and Lies, for the corpse has planned well to have the past brought to the present through her pre-suicide machinations. For Jose, it's a matter of dealing with his feelings for his ex-wife and his atheism in the presence of believers.

Perhaps the subtlest success of the film is seeing Jose gradually reveal an inner core of feeling and humanity released by his ex-wife in her death. It's a strange irony made probable by underplaying and a powerful script.

For an audience of believers and non, Nora's Will will make you think about the aftermath, just as Depatures (2008) made me think about preparing a body for the final journey. It's all more than we can know before the end, but it is up to art like this to help us prepare.

"A death-bed's a detector of the heart." Edward Young

(2008) Nora's Will/ Cinco días sin Nora (Much of the movie is in Spanish with English subtitles) DRAMA

The English translation for it's original title "Cinco días sin Nora" is "Five Days Without Nora", written and directed by Mariana Chenillo, starring Fernando Lujan as José Kurtz who has just discovered his ex-wife's suicide, and during the arrangements of her funeral uncovered a series of instructions written beforehand by his ex-wife to him as well as to others. With further complications on where she can be buried since it is a Jewish family and in some faiths- suicide is labelled as a sin is one of the controversy's.

Nora's Will has a good solid premise, a very good leading actor who does what he can with both the character and the screenplay, a pretty involving beginning and such a good grasp of the Jewish religion's burial rituals that it almost feels mean to say anything negative about it. Truthfully i didn't really find it funny so much as gently, wryly amusing, and even then not as much as it could've been. Also the pacing of the film is a wee bit on the slow side. It almost feels like a stage play in part.

If you go in thinking this is going to be a straight up comedy...you'll be disappointed as its definitely more of a drama with some lightly humorous moments scattered throughout. Story is pretty basic--Man who's been separated from his wife for the last 15 years walks into her apt and finds her dead triggering many unhappy flashbacks of their time together, many unhappy family reunions, and many grimaces by the grieving man as his family is trying to honor his ex wife's wishes to be buried in a religious way. A lot of the humor stems from the man's willful and stubborn refusal to honor her requests in any way...and his attempts to belittle the rabbi and the religious ceremony that she wants to be a part of in death also come into play.

Its a semi cute film but it not uproarious (in fact its quite downbeat and even rather depressing in spots)...but even worse is that it doesn't really go anywhere either. Eventually the man sort of comes around and accepts her death, and does what he can to help her wishes after refusing to honor her for the running time of the film. That's more or less it in terms of plot. Character development is unfortunately equally thin as we learn about the various horrible things his ex wife pulled on her husband when they were married...but they loved each other overall, and its sad that she's no longer there to bug him of course, etc.

Film manages to stay on the watchable side thanks in no small part to the lead actor who manages to make his character's crabbiness somewhat appealing (and quite understandable once we've witnessed the flashbacks) Film has some solid supporting characters esp in the daffy actress who plays the ex wife's sister, but everyone who's not the main character is a little bit left out as its really the husband's movie.

This is, without a doubt, one of the best examples of what talented Mexican filmmakers can achieve. Excellent plot, impeccable script, outstanding actors and an amazing director's work. No big sound effects or different locations are needed to tell a deep story that leaves you wanting to know more (Ms. Chenillo, please tell us there will be another film about Jose's life!), as a matter of fact, it takes place inside an apartment in Mexico City, for the most part. Certain aspects of Jewish beliefs and traditions that many viewers would not understand are seamlessly integrated in the dialogs, and yet there's no saturation, no "over explaining". It's a very clean story, almost unadorned, and yet there is so much beneath it! As a viewer, you never lose interest, on the contrary, you get more and more intrigued as the story unveils -flashbacks are a smart element that adds to the anticipation. A thought lingers on after the movie ends: humans beings, regardless of faith or heritage, are rich, complicated and fascinating beyond the limits of life. Standing ovation!!!

I really liked this movie because of the story, the acting and because I like movies about Jewish people! It's a slow moving movie - not for action movie fans - a movie to me that feels like real cinema. The main character, Jose, is entertaining and interesting - and very well acted. And the other actors also do a wonderful job building this slow moving movie to a satisfying conclusion. I have watched it several times which speaks for what I think of it.