Mon trésor

There is a general impression in the minds of cinema goers that films about the taboo topic of prostitution are either too dark or to light. Most of the dark films about prostitution are known to have a sort of documentary touch to them whereas light films about prostitution invariably carry the hackneyed "all prostitutes are beautiful and they have a heart of gold" kind of message.For example: Irma La Douce directed by Billy Wilder and Never on Sunday directed by Jules Dassin. It is not so often that a different kind of film is made which can do justice to the depiction of this disturbing theme.Most of the films about prostitution need to have all the right ingredients in order to carry the proper message to viewers.This film by Keren Yedaya called "Or" is a unique film in the history of Israelian cinema.It is for the first time that the absurdist theme of prostitution has been boldly shown especially in the context of evils which disturb the human mind,body and soul.The film is a success as it depicts that the act of prostitution is a modern day evil which is closely associated with other roguish facets of modern age such as crime and drugs.Or can also be read as a sad tale of an irresponsible mother who is unable to take proper care of her daughter.The bizarre thing about this film is that towards its end the evil practice of prostitution is accepted by a person who was single handedly waging a fierce as well as a heroic battle against it.This is a hint to state that there is no possible end to the vicious circle of evil as circumstances even force a strong willed person to be a part of it.

I first saw Ronit Elkabetz in The Band's Visit, and then in Late Marriage. She was fantastic in both and really captivated me. I am so glad I saw her in films where she was appealing before I saw this. Here, she is an aging, drug-addicted prostitute, who is being cared for by her teen daughter Or (Dana Ivgy). It is classic role reversal, and it is not very pretty.

It means Or works late at night, collects anything that can be sold, and cares for her mother like she was a child. All to keep her off the streets. School becomes a hit or miss thing as she spends time collecting bottles. It is a day-to-day battle.

While Or is trying to save her mother she is being used as a sexual receptacle by everyone. She finally ends up getting paid for it rather than just giving it away. All to no avail as her mother continues to hit the streets.

Ivgy and Elkabetz were outstanding in this sad slice of life.

'Or' means in Hebrew 'light' and may be both a feminine or masculine name. The name is the symbol of what the main character apparently is - a luminous teenager having to deal with a life of privation in today's Israel, taking care of with her prostitute mother and trying to keep her away of the streets, going to school and working in the evenings and having a teen affair with the boy in the neighbors. However, life is not simple for director Keren Yedaya's characters, with the society around keeping them not only at their economic level, but also defining by birth or genetics the moral path of their lives. In the director's view the guilt is however not only with the society but also with the characters themselves, who are not able to draw enough internal power to overcome and break the borders of their condition. It is a social but also a moral comment.

The film belongs to the wave of somehow supported but still low cost wave of production in the Israeli cinema in the last few years, which gave a few more at least interesting and promising productions. Although the subject is interesting and the story has logic and emotion, there are two principal flaws in the production. One is the too obvious and programmatic approach, which kind of pushes the viewer to the director's views rather than letting him develop his or her own feelings abut the story and the situations. The second is the length, there are too many dead moments where it looks like there is nothing to be said, takes where 15 seconds would be enough but the director is spending 50. Still, the film is wonderfully acted by Dana Ivgy and Ronit Elkabetz and the atmosphere of the less privileged Israel is very well caught. A film to watch.

Most of the other comments here about this movie are correct, but they dance around the central issue, I think. But first . . .

First: the acting here is superb. I had to remind myself I wasn't watching a documentary.

Second: the cinematography is unusual and highly effective. It's a certain style that other directors have used (some Japanese guy, for example, whose name escapes me.) Someone here describes it as minimalist, and maybe it is, but it has the effect of putting you in the scene as a sort of innocent bystander. For example, the camera does not always follow the action; rather, it is stationary and the characters pass back and forth. Sometimes they drift off screen, or almost off screen, right in the middle of a scene. In this particular case, it works to great effect. It's as if you're sitting on the couch, ignored, slightly embarrassed, taking it all in.

OK, now for the story. This is a story about sex, women, and men, in its most elemental form. Sex for money, or barter, whatever. Sex for cheap thrills. But mostly, this is about the way that men use women, and IN PARTICULAR how Israeli men relate to women. That's the crux of it, because this film was not shot in Argentina, or Kenya, or Thailand, but in the (so-called) Holy Land. 50 years after the establishment of the state of Israel, once referred to as the Moral Vacation Spot of the World, we see a society which is blatantly exploitive of women. No moral compass here. We get the landlord who cops a feel for the rent. A soldier on leave from the West Bank who demands a blow job. Drunks in the street humping an aging whore. An ex husband who couldn't care less that his former wife walks the streets. This is gritty stuff to see in the land of Jesus & Co.

So, not a fun movie -- leaves you feeling like you just took a nap on the floor of a Greyhound terminal -- but if you're up for well done realism, this is for you.

P.S. Lots of nudity, and sex, but don't expect to get turned on; it's more like watching an xxx flick from inside the porn star's head.

P.P.S. (Written much later) If you're up for another interesting look at Israeli sexuality, there's a documentary called (I think) The First Zionist Bunny. It's about how Playboy selected a host for their cable channel in Israel. Very interesting flick.

To be perfectly honest, I found it more than slightly perplexing that an Israeli film, in Hebrew, is titled in the IMDb in its French title (in Hebrew, it's titled "Or", a semi-common name meaning "light). The film received impressive accolades at Cannes festival which may explain why France is a major market for this film.

"Or" (Dana Ivgy in a mesmerizing performance) is a teenager that spends the better part of her days on taking care of her mother, Ruthie (Ronit Elkabetz in an equally gut wrenching performance). Ruthie is a recovering (with varying levels of success) drug addict and barely adequate to take care of herself, let alone, support a family. That task is entirely in Or's responsibility and her odd jobs interfere with her educational agenda (which will turn out to be the least of her worries).

What Or is deprived in parenting, she compensates by casual flings with boys who, more often than not, exploit her good nature and a need to be loved for, well, you all know what men want.

Surprisingly enough, despite the harshness of Or's existence, she is a jubilant girl with a very strong bond with her mother and even manages to conduct a border line Friendship/Romance with a pensive classmate, Ido (Nesher Cohen).

Unfortunately (read: inevitably), old demons from the past threaten to shatter the already fragile family and when dubious character's appear on Or and her mother's dilapidating apartment, aided with the outright disapproval of Ido's family to his relationship with Or, the harsh existence calls for cutting corners solutions with devastating effects (which I can't reveal).

This movie is a minimalist movie with no camera movements, no voice over and no music of any kind. I believe it was meant to intensify the experience as opposed to refining it. If that was the objective of the director, it was accomplished fully largely to its raw direction and impressive acting. An objective that was compromised (or maybe unjustly low-prioritized) was depicting a subtle portrait of Or.

Subtlety is very rare commodity in this film. Extensive nudity, graphic sex scenes and other scenes that don't leave anything for imagination turn the already hard to absorb feature into a film that is profoundly gut wrenching but emotionally too disturbing to be enjoyed.

I should note, in the name of objectivity, that the extremely explicit nature of this film (a disturbing trait many Israeli films still hone) might not deter people with a less conservative standpoint than my own but even those of you who are less troubled by nudity, sex and blunt content in general, should expect a very difficult film to watch and for the privilege of a film pondered on long after the screening ends, one must prepare to pay for with a very unnerving viewing.

8 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter.