Customer Reviews

La Petite Jerusalem

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Note: French and Hebrew with English subtitles.

`La Petite Jerusalem' released in '05 is an intelligent, thoughtful and articulate exploration of the question "What is reason capable of." In the context of this film it appears to be capable of luring Laura (Fanny Valette), an educated free thinking philosophy student out of the protective confines of her Orthodox Jewish community and blantantly defying its traditions to pursue a romantic relationship with a Moslem co-worker. While most of the ensuing chaos that occurs over such a relationship is predictable, the ongoing philosophical/religious debate between Laura and her trusted confidant Mathilde (Elsa Zylberstein) are quite penetrating and insightful. Those sequences along with the subplot concerning Mathilde and her struggle to faithfully follow the teachings of the Torah while adequately fulfilling her husbands physical desires are my favorite moments in the film.

`La Petite Jerusalem' provides a fascinating peek into modern Jewish culture which makes it definitely worth a watch whether you're of the Jewish persuasion or not.

Nowadays story of conforming the traditional believes while following natural urges and lust unleashed on a screen explicitly during last decades of a sexual revolution, human rights achievements and HIV invasion, is filmed in a Jewish quarter of modern Paris (regrettably, I had found neither profoundly Jewish subway line nor a district in situ, also some areas were still really, visually, more predominantly Hasidim-inhabited), mitzvah counseling, anti-Semitism on rise, exodus from and a loyalty to a country one lives in.

Interference with "a boy from the Musk", an Algerian journalist illegally residing in France at mercy of traditional parents, adds a pepper to a story of ready-for-marriage philosophy student's sexual desires.

Although both contextually and visually modern Israeli topic-related movies are much more graphic, a viewer would have been attracted with a female charm of actresses performing.

This work is interesting for broadening knowledge of a contemporary French Jewry.

A simple story beautifully shot and well acted.

A girl from an close knit orthodox Jewish family in Paris falls for a mysterious, quiet Arab man.

It's familiar territory, but done so sensually, and with such rich sense of detail that it feels completely fresh. A glimpse into a closed off world, where people cling to traditions in both fear and pride, leading to an almost incestuous over-involvement in each other's lives.

Great use of close-up image throughout, adding texture, and intimacy. That rare film that gives such a sense of place it's like you can smell the air of the rooms of the family's apartment.

This little gem, while melodramatic, lingers in memory basically by the beauty of images, music and female characters. You get inside their lives, rites, routine, family life, status of each member, machismo, religion vs. reason, sexuality, taboos one would think would have fallen in the XXI century, urban decay, how little philosophy students earn, even in the first world :) and so many other topics that would be tiresome even to read.

The film is fun to watch, it's very easy to relate with the characters, from Todeschini's very believable Ariel (!) to of course Zilberstein, one of the most beautiful faces in French cinema and Fanny Valette, simply startling. Aurore Clément exudes classy intelligence, as in all her roles. In here her role is pivotal, albeit small. "Religion is not opposed to pleasure". Thus, she makes things change for good.

Elsa did a classy prostitute with a hidden heart in "Tenue correcte exigée" (1997), thus showing here how big is her actoral range.
The only aspect I wasn't very convinced of was Djamel, and his family. For starters, I just don't see him as a good romantic partner for spellbinding Laura. Maybe it's that she's more amenable to our western idea of beauty and success at work. He, on the contrary, seems to do nothing but stalk at her at nigh, like a serial killer. We hear he says he was a journalist, but we get to know nothing about him besides he's got a bigot family. And quite stupidly, he takes her without, seemingly, having asked before if she would be accepted. The Arabs are shown as narrow minded as the Jews, only in a more brutish manner. One of the little phrases that matter is Laura's: "What did you do back home". Everybody was "something else" (presumably, better) before coming to a Paris really off the beaten track us tourists love to watch. François Marthouret, a staple of classic French cinema, portrays a very solid philo teacher. Engaging, intelligent, and fun. You really want to enroll in a College course afterwards! I have to admit Kantism seems a tad rigid, but definitely not so asking ourselves the eternal big questions, justice/law vs liberty, how much can we attain by reason alone, what is our "duty" and so one. By the way, I am surprised a College teacher has to wipe floors and clean schools at night shifts for a living in the first of first worlds. Again, the film doesn't shy away from showing real life. But what sets it apart is the vivid portrayal of the Jewish ritual, both the male's (everybody drinking, toddling their altars, including the kids, and drinking Vodka heavily) and female's Mikva (very interesting, water as purification as usual, but with a twist). The other one I liked was the families gathering on Sunday, banging their feet and emitting shrill voices, just like it must have been in the tribes, 2000 years ago. Enlightening, how so much remains the same while only a few things have changed.

Enjoy it, and take care of your loved ones!

PS: Another aspect I liked was how both Djamel and Laura suffered when they had to repress their feelings, passions or just lust.

This is a great movie to show young adults the struggles in identity building be you Jewish or otherwise. Highly Recommended!

Director Karin Albou says she was only secondarily interested in her characters as Orthodox Jews, living in Paris. She was more concerned with the meaning of freedom - especially freedom for women in a highly regulated and constricted culture - and the rule of law. On the one hand we have the Talmudic law, which constrains one of the two sisters at the center of the film, who is married with four young children. Her husband, she learns has been unfaithful to her, we're given to understand, because of her unwillingness to partake in sexual pleasure she believes has not been granted to her as an observant Jew. The law, as it is explained to her, frees her to win back her husband's affections.

Her unmarried sister, a university philosophy student, understands from her reading of Kant that the law frees her from succumbing to disruptive passions, and she finds herself fighting the attraction that draws her to a co-worker, a secular Muslim. Meanwhile, the sisters' Moroccan mother attempts with spells, talismans, and introductions to eligible bachelors to marry her off. Freedom for the sisters' mother is being taken into the home of a man who can provide for her and protect her. The world outside the home is, she believes, dangerous, and she lives at the pleasure of her son-in-law, the man of the house. While she does not wish to leave Paris, she acquiesces without complaint as he announces that they will all emigrate to Israel.

Finally, the film is a meditation on the paradoxes that occur where freedom and law converge. Nicely filmed and edited, the story is elliptical and told in fragments that are sometimes left to the viewer to interpret. The pieces, much like the argument of the film, are not meant to fit neatly together. The DVD includes an interview with the director.

Writer/director Karin Albou's LA PETITE JERUSALEM (2005, Israeli) is a lovely and priviledged glimpse into the world of Hasidic Jews living in a Paris suburb called "Little Jerusalem". Specifically, the movie is about two likeable and very different sisters. The younger, Laura (Fanny Vanettte), is orthodox, quiet, and into philosophy; she believes Kant's teachings matter more than the Talmud. Her older sister, Mathilde Elsa Zyberstein), is married with four children. She is much more free and liberal, but terrified that her husband Ariel (Bruno Todeschini) is seeing another woman. Actually, Ariel is sexually unfulfilled and having sex with another woman because he does not want to hurt Mathilde by asking her to do sexual things she is uncomfortable doing (like maybe oral sex or genital touching). Should she divorce him? What does the Talmud say about adultery?

Laura is so involved with her philosophy books that she doesn't know what to do when a Moslem journalist named Djamel falls for her. The two tentatively go to bed, but Laura is terrified of "touching" Djamel or doing anything sexually advanced. She confers with her mother and a rabbi on what is allowed sexually in the Orthodox Jewish faith. Complicating matters is that Djamel's parents silently loathe Laura as a strict Jew. They will not consider a marriage with Djamel unless Laura converts to the Muslim religion, which Laura seemingly and gratifyingly cannot bring herself to do.

I sense a breakup with Laura and Djamel at the end, which satisfies me because I care immensely about Laura's happiness and don't care much for grungy Djamel. As for Mathilde, she also confers with a rabbi about sex and discusses the issue with husband Ariel. She will learn to please him sexually so that he does not want to be with any other woman.

LA PETITE JERUSALEM ("Little Jerusalem") is a sensitive and poignant character study done with great sensitivity and honesty. Beautifully photographed on location in suburban Paris, the movie has wonderful performances and insightful writing. The film lets the audience into a world seldom seen by Americans, even American Jews. I am excited by what Karin Albou and her talented cast do next cinematically. The movie is in French and Hebrew, with English subtitles.