Fill the Void

It's hard to imagine the transposition of Jane Austen to the ultra-orthodox Jewish Haredim community of modern day Tel Aviv, but Austen was the inspiration for this moving and delicately crafted film. First-time director Rama Burshtein is a devout member of that world and her stated goal was to bring the sense and sensibility of Austen's strong turn-of-the-19th-century female characters to her story of a young woman faced with making difficult choices in marriage and family matters. Shira (Hadas Yaron) is the younger daughter in a family celebrating the impending arrival of a child by her older sister Esther (Renana Raz) and Yochay (Yiftach Klein), Esther's husband from a traditional arranged marriage. When Esther dies giving birth, the devastated family's attention is turned from Shira's excitement over her own bright marriage prospects to the grief not only over Esther's death, but also the potential loss of the new niece/granddaughter who Yochay may whisk away to Belgium with a new wife. Shira's mother seizes on the idea that Shira could marry her widowed brother-in-law to ease his pain and also keep the child in Israel in the tight community. Young Shira must confront her own pride and prejudices in both making a marriage decision and maintaining familial loyalty. Winner of seven Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture, this is recommended. (T. Fry)