Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
For The Love Of A Woman - Review by Lisa Blanck
I recently got the chance to screen For The Love Of A Woman, a new film from Director Guildo Chiesa, starring Mili Avital; I was so invested in the family drama/mystery that I didn’t take any notes while watching. Taking notes is how I remind myself of character development, plotline, something that just stood out to me while watching, which helps me write my reviews. Based on the novel The Loves of Judith, For The Love Of A Woman is an intricately woven puzzle, blended with historical reference points, humor, love and pathos.
It’s set in two eras, 1970’s Israel and 1930’s Palestine, where many of those being persecuted by the Nazis in Europe chose to emigrate. Avital plays Esther, a woman living in the U.S., whose relationship with her mother was strained much of their lives. After her mother passes, Esther, a fiercely independent woman in her forties, is handed an envelope containing a necklace and a torn baby picture. In the letter, she’s been instructed by her late mother to go to Israel and discover the origins of these items.
As Esther tugs on the threads of the past, she becomes enmeshed in the story of another independent woman named Yehudit (Ana Ularu), whose indominable spirit in the 1930’s enraptured all the men in the tiny village. When she first arrives as helpmate to Moshe, a recent widower with two young children, Yehudit elects to take up residence in his barn instead of living in his home. She doesn’t want to encourage any ideas of impropriety in her new hometown. Yehudit is also very secretive. The children and Moshe (Alban Ukaj) can hear her shrieking during the night, but they allow Yehudit the space and privacy to work out whatever nightmares she carries.
The other men in the village who fall for her are Yaakov (Marc Rissman) and Globerman (Serhiy Kysil’) and watching the three men act like fools over Yehudit brings much humor to the film. Keep in mind, Yehudit encourages none of them – which naturally makes her even more attractive to them. She becomes the prize, and the competition begins.
In the meantime, and in the present, Esther reluctantly wins the heart of Zayde, a gentle man who carries his own secret, while assisting her in her search. Chiesa unwraps both stories so delicately that you’re kept in the dark as much as Esther, until the closing scenes. Why was she sent there? What did her mother want her to discover? What relevance does the lives of these strangers from 40 years ago bear on her own?
To divulge any more of this wonderful film would be a discredit to the audience. It’s currently on the film festival circuit, but put it on your radar. For The Love Of A Woman is guaranteed to intrigue and entertain.
