Lea Koenig's Loves

Although virtually unknown in America, Lea Koenig is celebrated in Israel as the nation's most notable theater star. Tali Ohaion's documentary profiles the life and career of Koenig, who was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1929, the child of prominent Yiddish theater actors. The film is surprisingly vague about Koenig's family during the World War II years, with the briefest mention that her father died during the war and that Lea was educated in Russia during this period. Her mother remarried after the war and the family settled in Bucharest, where Koenig—despite parental apprehension—decided to become an actress in the Yiddish theater. She emigrated to Israel in 1962 with her husband, actor/writer Tzvi Stolper, where she became—almost immediately—a luminary of Tel Aviv's Habima Theatre. Lea Koenig's Loves includes a segment featuring Koenig in an Israeli TV presentation of Eugène Ionesco's The Chairs, as well as a scene of her in a film called Mercedes, but clips of her stage work cruelly magnify performances that were not intended for the camera—and, quite frankly, Koenig comes across as hammy and obvious in what were supposedly her triumphant roles. While this may appeal to diehard fans of Yiddish theater, as a biography it feels incomplete. Optional. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)