Notoriety of its title and content will attract some attention on the festival circuit and no doubt in Israel, but audiences will have that empty feeling afterwards. When an old acquaintance, Shai Ishai Golan , a low-key, friendly veterinarian, returns to the area, Tamar sees no reason not to add him to her harem. But Shai offers her more than the others, providing her with some genuine human warmth, perhaps even love, and developing a good relationship with her two young daughters, whose father, or fathers, are never mentioned.
After Tamar becomes pregnant, however, she goes into a funk, with eventual results that are both disturbing and perplexing. Searching in vain for any allegorical underpinnings, one is left only with a strange psychological case that is as unexpected as it is unedifying. The well-composed widescreen visuals evoke the isolation of the dusty landscapes and the film has a quietly methodical nature that reveals a measure of directorial confidence.
Discover Thomson Reuters. Directory of sites. United States. Reviews News. Todd McCarthy. Editing by Zorianna Kit.
