Gett

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

This Israeli film is the final part of a trilogy dealing with the life of a middle aged Orthodox Jewish couple, Viviane Amsalem (Ronit Elkabetz, who also co directed with her brother Shlomi) and her husband Elisha. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the two previous movies, so is possible that I missed some of the background story, though we do get a lot of information about the characters in this long (almost two hour) film. In this third part, Viviane has already left her husband Elisha for some years and is now asking for a divorce. In Israel, though, there is no civil marriage or divorce, and all this matters are handled by a rabbinical court. In the movie, the three judges handling the case are generally unsympathetic with Viviane's arguments (all the action in this movie, that takes place during several years, happens in a small courtroom, except for a few scenes that take place in the adjacent waiting room). Viviane no longer loves Elisha, but in the view of the court, this is not enough justification to grant a divorce. Especially, since Elisha is a devout Jew, has never hit her, never cheated on her with another woman, and has always provided for her. She can only get a divorce if Elisha agrees to one, something he is unrelentingly opposed to give. Though the movie sides with Viviane, it gets points for not making Elisha (nicely played by Simon Abkarian) an obvious villain. He is silent and taciturn. His reasons to reject a divorce are not obviously clear in the movie. He could be doing out of spite, or it could be just male pride, or perhaps, as a pious believer, he simply believes he cannot grant her a divorce if he hasn't broken any traditional marital commandment. I did like this movie a lot, but in my opinion there are a few scenes which strikes false notes. One scene has a neighbor of the couple, a middle aged housewife testifying in favor of the husband. Viviane's lawyer, in the cross examination, makes clear she did so because she is afraid of her husband, a rude shopkeeper. Another false scene (in my opinion) has Elisha''s brother (who is also his lawyer) accusing Viviane's lawyer of having an affair with her client. At times, Viviane argues with Elisha in French. Though this is not explained in the movie, I think this is because both are Sephardic Jews from Morocco, and French, and not Hebrew, is their native language.

The title character is a secular Israeli Jew trying to get a divorce from her devoutly religious Orthodox husband who refuses to comply. As the Israeli court system cannot grant a divorce without the husband's consent, Viviane has a very uphill struggle. With the exception of a minute or so, all of this film takes place in a small courtroom with occasional scenes in an adjoining waiting room. As the courtroom looks bland and ordinary, this film deliberately takes on the challenge of maintaining viewers' interest within such constraints. In doing so, it succeeds with flying colours. This is due to a detailed script with various surprises and a superb cast especially Ronit Elkabitz in the title role. (She is also the co-director and co-writer with Shlomi Elkabitz, her brother.) She has a couple of explosive scenes that are riveting especially one in which she cathartically expresses the views of many of us in the audience. The various accounts of the plaintiff, defendant, witnesses, and lawyers provide all the detail in what could have been a solid movie about a disintegrating marriage, Ingmar Bergman-style. Incidentally, some of the witness accounts from relatives and neighbours are the most revealing aspects of the story and of the culture of a religious community. In the end, it is the audience who are the true witnesses and judges of a legal system that is absurd and harshly unfair to women.

Thanks to watching the Coen brothers' A Serious Man and Joan Micklin Silver's Hester Street I knew what a Gett was, but little else when I first watched the film. A religious Jewish divorce, a Gett is apparently the only type of divorce you can get in Israel. The film is about a Morrocan-Israeli couple, Viviane Amsalem and her pious husband, Elisha, who are getting a divorce. It quickly becomes clear that the divorce is not Elisha's idea and that he doesn't want to grant it. The rabbinical court tries to be fair, but the drama drags on for years as Elisha cannot bring himself to divorce his wife. The film is brilliantly shot almost entirely within one room (there are a few brief scenes that take place outside the courtroom in the waiting room of the building as Elisha and Viviane wait their turn. The camera work is still but it feels vibrantly dynamic and that's because the camera is always showing point of view of one of the characters so we are always in their skin. We only hear about Elisha and Viviane's marriage through how they represent it in court and through their neighbour's testimony but it's easy to see how dysfunctional and claustrophobic it feels and how awful it is to be held hostage to a system in which only the man can make the ultimate decision to sever the marriage. I didn't know this going into the film, but the movie is actually the last part of a trilogy, all starring Ronit Elkabetz and Simon Abkarian and all directed by Elkabetz and her brother Shlomi. This helps explain why the characters are so lived in (these people have been playing them for a decade), but even on its own, without knowing anything about the previous two films the film stands as a masterpiece in its own right, one of the best courtroom dramas I've ever seen which says so much despite being so pared down. It is the last ever film both as an actress and as a director for Ronit Elkabetz, who unfortunately died in 2016. But as an end note to her career she could hardly have done better. Gett is a masterpiece.

I watched the trailer and i really liked it. the movie was really interesting when it began. but after watching it for a while got bored, but managed to complete it somehow because this movie is nothing other than the same room and the same people, but i am actually glad i watched it. This movie really tells us about how many husbands treat their wives, no abusing no extra marital affair, but they just treat them as they don't exist. they just want their wives to take care of their kids and house. all they can give is just loneliness.never ever try to understand their situation. In this movie the woman who craves for freedom was really painful. i think most women should watch this movie.

Determined in its aim, the brother and sister Elkabetz have brought to the screen to much acclaim 'Gett: the Trial of Viviane Amsalem'. Like many Israeli film that attacks Israel's sacred cows, 'Gett' takes place in a closed universe of a courtroom, as though we are in a theater. Viviane Amsalem sues for divorce--a 'Gett'Only a religious court can dissolve the marriage, but Elisha Amsalem refuses to allow it, to the extent he at first refuses to appear in court; then does but remains firm in his refusal. Israel like most Muslim and Arab countries leaves issues such as divorce and inheritance and other matter touching the personal sphere in the hands of religious authorities. A practice that goes far back in time. So during five years, Viviane Amsalem suffers abuse by the rabbis and the contempt of her accusers for not being a good Jewish wife. Her husband initially is seen as a model spouse, but mittendrin it turns out that Elisha is intolerant, intransigent and contentious. So, after 30 years of marriage, Viviane files for divorce; she has moved out of the house, gone to her sister's. Nonetheless, she prepares food daily for husband and her only son who remains at home. She is a hairdresser with her own business and a will of her own. On the other hand, Elisha treats her as his property--professing undying love--but won't let go until at the end he signs the divorce, but at a price which prejudices Viviane's happiness. Yet, she is free of him. It is good to see Simon Abkarian in the role of Elisha. This seasoned actor gave a good turn in Michel Deville's 'Almost Peaceful'. Ronit Elkabetz us a study in wifely suffering, and absolutely beautiful. The Hebrew is peppered with words of Moroccan Arabic, and moments of French since the protagonists are of Moroccan origin settled in Israel of long date. 'Gett' is a blow for women's rights. And a winner. In Europe and North America say Beit Dins exist to grant divorce for Orthodox Jews. (In Israel only Orthodox practices are allowed for a gett.) Luckily, divorce exists in the civil sphere, but in the eyes of the pious Jews, a woman without a gett is wayward and nothing better than a prostitute. A word or two, on the presence of Arab Jews in Israeli cinema and stage, although they are not considered the equal of Jews of European ancestry. Isn't Israel a European construct, with non-European Jews for the numbers to take possession of land?

The explicit statement of Gett is clear: The Israeli justice system is completely patriarchal and of a smothering misogynous tradition. The 45,000 cases of women denied divorces typifies that. The fictional Vivian Amsalem is put through a trial lasting over five years because her husband refuses to grant her a divorce (a gett). Even then the rabbinical court can only recommend he grant her one; they can't impose it. A husband, of course, has no trouble unloading an unwanted wife. As directors Ronit and Schlomi Elkabetz told the Palm Springs festival audience, they focused the film entirely on the courtroom because that is to what plaintiff Vivian's life was reduced. There are no objective or director's shots in the film; every shot is from a character's perspective. This film is the third in a trilogy with the same actors/characters, that was initially based on their mother's life but moved further away into this general social issue. The last shot is of bare feet in sandals leaving a room and a heavy black door slamming behind. Vivian is going back into the room where her Elisha will finally grant her gett on condition she will never be with another man. The shot suggests she is only entering another prison. As soon as the 15-year-old girl was married she began to feel she was in a prison. She suffered thirty years of marriage and bore three children before finally walking out. But the trial for a divorce only proved another prison. Now she enters a third, caged in the promise which her cruel but very religious husband exacted. The judges are three old men, rabbis, old school, with no tolerance for the woman, her arguments, her emotions. They instinctively side with the husband and expect the wife's traditional subservience to him. Even some of Vivian's family witnesses side with him. The neighbour's wife is so submissive to her husband that he stays and contributes to her testimony. Only when he leaves does she under cross-examination let slip his tyranny. In contrast, a brash woman only alienates the judges by the indecorum of her language and observations. The divorce trial opens into two larger issues. Not just divorce but the entire Israeli social landscape is affected by the power of the orthodoxy. The rabbinical court's sole authority over marriages and divorces is a powerful emblem of the larger problem, a secular state still throttled by religious orthodoxy. Hence the assault on women riding buses with the haredim, presuming to pray at the Wailing Wall, daring to take office in the outcast Reform movement. In short the Jewish orthodoxy is as inhumane and dangerous as the Moslem orthodoxy. In fact, the traditional misogyny is not limited to Israel or even most powerful there. It holds worse sway over the Arab nations around her. But the film has a larger address still. At one point Vivian says "It's easy to blame the one who yells. Those who whisper venom are innocent." Even in our more liberal societies women are seriously disadvantaged in marital matters. The genders are wired for us to expect the men to be rational, quiet, unemotional, and when their wives turn emotional, express their feelings, want to be heard and heeded, they're dismissed as hysterical. This was the key issue in Vivian's marriage. Her husband's detached silence drove her to throw crockery at him. It's apparent in the three judges' anger and disdain at the two women who speak with emotion. We may have a better justice system but our marriages are rarely free of the dynamic targeted in Gett. Here divorces may be easier to get but mutual respect in marriage? Not that much.

Excellent movie. It is really a play, with a play's limited sets, but with the movie camera's freedom to somehow annotate the lines with sub-textual commentary. The camera, is, however, never, intrusive, and remains mostly neutral (if that is even possible). The immense frustration of this absurd ritual for divorce transfers to the viewer. The 'wife", seeking the divorce, remains almost silent, save for several curt responses to the self-important rabbis ruling over the case. The underlay here is Middle East culture, fundamentalism in my book, trundling it's (formerly: its) tyranny down thru these ages, and it makes you wonder how sane peep still adhere, so desperately it seems, to this primitive and obsolete madness.