Handlung

After a lukewarm marriage of over twenty years, a woman appeals to her husband's compassion to obtain the desirable divorce document in front of a court, which proves to be more challenging than she would expect.

In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce. Only rabbis can legitimize a marriage or its dissolution. But this dissolution is only possible with full consent from the husband, who in the end has more power than the judges. Viviane Amsalem has been applying for divorce for three years. But her husband Elisha will not agree. His cold intransigence, Viviane's determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the judges shape a procedure in which tragedy vies with absurdity, and everything is brought out for judgment, apart from the initial request.—Directors' Fortnight

Elisha and Viviane Amsalem have been married for over twenty years with only one of their four offspring still living at home. He being devoutly Jewish and she living largely secular is only one of the major differences between the two. It is because of the many differences that Viviane has long known that she no longer loves him and that they were incompatible as husband and wife. As such, she moved out three years ago to live with her sister and her family, has supported herself as a hairdresser, has remained faithful in not carrying on with any other man but has not communicated with Elisha directly, and has maintained her family duties in cooking for Elisha and their son at home, the food which she has sent to them. She has approached the rabbinical court to obtain a gett, the equivalent of a divorce. It is more a religious document in which the husband releases the wife from her marital duties, including intimate relations. Grounds for divorce could be such things as adultery or physical abuse. Incompatibility or falling out of love are not reasonable grounds. Without these grounds, the courts cannot force Elisha to oblige her request. Although the courts can invoke penalties for failure to appear - which Elisha does often in an effort to ignore the problem - they still cannot grant her request without either these previously stated grounds or his consent. When Elisha does eventually appear in court, he denies her request despite their marriage largely being in name only. Over the course of the very drawn out proceedings, the nature of Elisha and Viviane's life in all its aspects over their entire marriage is not only exposed, but so is the nature of their society and the courts where all of the power lies with the belief in God in the male dominated culture.—Huggo

After a lukewarm marriage of over twenty years, the weary 45-year-old Israeli Viviane Amsalem requests a divorce in front of a court from her overbearing devout husband Elisha or a "gett", a legal divorce document according to Jewish Law. Which says she can commit adultery legitimately For this reason, the loyal wife will appeal to her husband's compassion in order to obtain the long-awaited precious document, only to be crushed under a sluggish, prejudiced system and Elisha's sinister machinations. Sadly, as the days turn to weeks and then months, an absolutely hideous Kafkaesque nightmare will gradually devour the powerless and forsaken by both men and God Viviane. Is there a way out of this madness?—Nick Riganas