Absorbing courtroom drama follows a woman’s Kafkaesque struggle to break loose
Featured in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2014 and winner of the Silver Hugo Award for Best Script at the Chicago Film Festival and the Otra Mirada Award at San Sebastián, Gett: the Trial of Viviane Almsalem is a powerful courtroom drama written and directed by siblings Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz. The two main characters, Viviane (Ronit Elkabetz, yes, she plays the lead too) and Elisha (Simon Abkarian) first appeared in To Take a Wife, when Viviane decided she would put an end to a barren 20-year marriage. Then the Elkabetzes followed their story in The Seven Days, in which the couple started to separate — and eventually did.
And now, in this third part, Viviane is determined to have her husband give her a divorce. But considering the state of affairs regarding marriage and divorce in Israel, Viviane’s struggle for freedom will be far too difficult — and that’s an understatement. No matter how much she may be in the right, the judges from the Orthodox rabbinical courts won’t side with her.
In Israel, civil marriage and civil divorce simply don’t exist, and so only rabbis can validate a marriage or its dissolution. Yet for a woman to get divorced, she must have total consent from her husband, strong grounds are mandatory, and sentiments are left out of the picture, of course. See, the fact that Viviane doesn’t love her husband anymore — and perhaps never did — doesn’t count in the slightest.
She’s been applying for a divorce for some three years, but her husband won’t give in. The more she and her lawyer try to convince the judges that she has an undeniable right to her freedom, the worse her situation gets. But don’t think that this is a black and white situation for even the judges sometimes contradict themselves, and are all ambivalent towards this particular case. More to the point, the filmmakers know better than to demonize the bad guys and turn the good ones into saints.
For a film set completely in the courtroom, it is as
dynamic as it gets, not only because of the smooth, invisible editing, but also — and perhaps even more so — because of how well written and articulate the screenplay is. Even if you are not familiar with how these things are in real life, the whole process is believable. Nothing feels forced, out of place, discursive, or artificial. So no wonder you get hooked from the very beginning. And you don’t need to have seen the two previous films to understand this last outing.
Mostly shot in close-ups, two-shots, and medium long shots, Gett: the Trial of Viviane Almsalem may remind you of Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc, and not necessarily because of its aesthetics — to which it bears only a slight resemblance — but mainly due to the suffering and torment Viviane endures at the hands of the judges, her husband, and her husband’s lawyer. And, of course, the fact that the performances are perfectly calibrated to the tiniest detail — that of Roni Elkabetz is simply riveting — is very helpful to achieve a remarkable sense of truth and realism. Which leads me to the award-winning A Separation, by Asghar Farhad, another intense courtroom drama that also excels cinematically in every regard. In comparison, the Elkabetzes’ film is more conventional, let’s say it’s filmed more by the book. Yet both of them convey the complex circumstances without an inch of oversimplification. Something that’s clearly easier said than done.
One more thing: this is the kind of film that doesn’t drag for a single minute and in which everything said matters as much as that which is left unsaid. So be prepared for a cinematic experience that demands close attention, and in turn provides much gratification.
Production notes
Gett: the Trial of Vivian Almsalem (Israel, France, Germany, 2014). Written and directed by Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz. With Ronit Elkabetz, Menashe Noy, Simon Abkarian, Sasson Gabay, Eli Gorstein, Gabi Amrani, Rami Danon. Cinematography : Jeanne Lapoirie. Editing: Joelle Alexis. Music: Michael Eckelt, Remi Burah, Olivier Pere. Running time: 110 minutes.
