Kadosh

Kadosh

1999 · 110 min · HE · 6.3 (23 votes)
Dir. Amos Gitai · Starring Yaël Abecassis, Yoram Hattab, Meital Barda, Uri Klauzner
DramaRomance

The year 2000 approaches in Jerusalem's Orthodox Mea Shearim quarter, where the women work, keep house, and have children so the men can study the Torah and the Talmud. Rivka is happily and passionately married to Meir, but they remain childless. The yeshiva's rabbi, who is Meir's father, wants Meir to divorce Rivka: "a barren woman is no woman." Rivka's sister, Malka, is in love with Yakov, a Jew shunned by the yeshiva as too secular. The rabbi arranges Malka's marriage to Yossef, whose agitation when fulfilling religious duties approaches the grotesque. Can the sisters sort out their hearts' desires within this patriarchal world? If not, have they any other options?

VIBE

A suffocatingly intimate look at faith and desire within a rigid patriarchal society. The film feels heavy with unspoken longing and the quiet desperation of women trapped by tradition, making for a deeply affecting, somber experience.

oppressivemelancholicyearningsomberslow-burnarthouse dramareligious realismintimate character studyfaithtraditionfemale agencyforbidden love
▶ Stream on Chai Flicks, Kino Film Collection
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