Product Details

• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001GMFEQG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,195 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Steeped, May 19, 2009

By 

J. A. Eyon "Little Raven" (Seattle - USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secrets - "Hasodot" (DVD)

An Israeli/French co-production lovingly steeped in Jewish Orthodoxy yet easy to follow and empathize with. The Israeli location photography helps, too, with stone streets and picturesque, decaying structures hugging the hills that overlook a blue sea. The dialog, fittingly, is mostly Hebrew -- with a lot of French.

French?!

Yeah, French. That cuz a studious young woman at a women's seminary joins forces with a worldly and rebellious young woman who speaks French in order to aid a French lady living next door who is desperately ill. The mystery deepens when they are told that she had been in prison for murdering someone. That is the main plot which I found very engrossing. Eventually a subplot creeps in, however, which I found hoo-hum and caused me to reduce my rating by a star.

The acting is sterling from top to bottom. While Fanny Ardant's role as the debilitated French woman is substantial and is pivotal, the actual stars are Ania Bukstein (as the studious one) and Michal Shtamler (as the rebellious one) who match Fanny for screen presence and depth. I was crushed to learn from IMDb that this seems to be Shtamler's only film credit.

No doubt, much credit must go to Avi Nesher who cowrite (with Hadar Galron) and directed.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Manipulative and exploitative, November 21, 2009

By 

Alan A. Elsner "Alan Elsner, author" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Secrets - "Hasodot" (DVD)

As a fan of Israeli cinema, I was disappointed by this exploitative and confusing drama which seemed to be at least three movies mixed into one -- and which ultimately failed on almost every level.

Naomi is the daughter of an ultra-orthodox rabbi destined for an arranged marriage. Before the wedding, she is allowed to go to the city of Safed in northern Israel to study at a women's seminary. There she meets Michelle, a rebellious fellow-student who has spent several years in France.

The two begin taking food to Anouk, a mysterious French woman living in the town played by Fanny Ardent in one of the most unfortunate turns of her career. Anouk is dying from both cancer and heart disease ("When God punishes you, he really punishes you," she observed. It transpires that she was recently released from prison after serving 15 years for killing her lover. (Just writing these words exposes the melodramatic and unbelievable plot).

Anouk wants to find a way to repent of her sins so she can face God with a clean conscience. Naomi enlists her roommates and constructs a bizarre, diabolical series of rituals constructed from some form of Jewish sacred texts. The whole thing ultimately ends in disaster.

SPOILER AHEAD: Meanwhile, Naomi and Michelle begin a sexual relationship. The whole mishmash eventually resolves -- kind of -- but it left a sour taste in my mouth.

There are some nice things in this movie. I enjoyed the photgraphy of the city of Safed and the music (mostly women singing) is lovely.

The acting by the Israelis, especially the young actresses portraying Naomi and Michelle, is excellent. But the writing is poor and the characters are repeatedly thrust into situations that are simply not believable.

Director Avi Nesher has always had a soft porn aspect to his work, (Dizengoff 99 is a prime example) -- and the extended sex scene was voyeuristic and strictly for titillation. Likewise a nude scene in a ritual bath -- which cheapens the ritual with pointless pandering to the males in the audience.

Incidentally, the "Behind the Scenes" movie that accompanied this DVD as one of its extra features was one of the most ridiculous pieces of portentious self-congratulation I've yet come across.