Screen/Society--AMI Showcase/Reel Women Directors of the Middle-East [Israel]--"Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem"

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - 3:00pm to 5:15pm
Screen/Society--AMI Showcase/Reel Women Directors of the Middle-East [Israel]--"Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem"

Film Screening:

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem 

(Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz, 2014, 115 min, Israel/France/Germany, in Hebrew, French, and Arabic w/ English subtitles, Color, Blu-Ray)  

-- Introduced by Prof. Rachel Harris (Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign); Q&A to follow!

 

 

 

An Israeli woman (Ronit Elkabetz) seeking to finalize a divorce (gett) from her estranged husband finds herself effectively put on trial by her country’s religious marriage laws, in this powerhouse courtroom drama from sibling directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz.  In Israel, there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce; only Orthodox rabbis can legalize a union or its dissolution, which is only possible with the husband’s full consent. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Viviane Amsalem has been applying for a divorce for three years but her religiously devout husband Elisha (Simon Abkarian of Casino Royale and Persepolis), continually refuses. His cold intransigence, Viviane’s determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the rabbinical judges shape a procedure where tragedy vies with absurdity and everything is brought out into the open for judgment. 

 

 

Winner of the Israeli Film Academy Ophir Award for Best Picture and propelled by the craft of Ronit Elkabetz , one of Israeli cinema’s most acclaimed actresses, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem is an uncompromising, heart-rending portrait of a woman’s struggle to overcome an unmoving patriarchy and live a life of her own design.

 

 

 

-- Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at Golden Globe Awards (2015)!

 

 

 

-- Winner for Best Film in Israeli Film Academy Awards (2014)!

 

 

“Expertly written, brilliantly acted...The beautifully modulated script, ripe with moments of liberating humor, builds to a crescendo of indignation, allowing Elkabetz several cathartic outbursts, but they’re no more riveting than the actress’ silences.” - Jay Weissberg, Variety

 

 

“Densely rich drama, told with stringent austerity but also humor and judicious empathy...an altogether strange but astonishing work of craftsmanship.” - Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Sponsors: The Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), the Center for Jewish Studies (CJS), and the Duke University Middle East Studies Center (DUMESC).

Bryan Center Griffith Film Theater