La Petite Jerusalem

SYNOPSIS

Winner of the script prize at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, Karin Albou's La Petite Jérusalem pits intimacy against sex and ideology against divinity, "with candor, sympathy and excellent cinematography," (Nathan Lee, The New York Times). Offering an unusual glimpse into an unseen, cloistered world, the film sensitively lays bare the souls and passions of two sisters in search of sexual and spiritual identity.

In a Paris suburb nicknamed Little Jerusalem, a family of Sephardic Orthodox immigrants shares a low-income apartment. Beautiful, teenaged Laura (Fanny Valette) distances herself from her family's religion and her own burgeoning desire by devoting every waking moment to intellectual discipline and secular philosophy. Mathilde (Elsa Zylberstein, That Day), Laura's married older sister, worries that strict observance of the Torah's marital codes has driven her husband Ariel (Bruno Todeschini, Code Unknown) into the bed of another. When Laura falls under the spell of Djamel, a handsome Muslim journalist, and Mathilde discovers that her worst fears are true, the two very different sisters find themselves in very similar crises.

"I won't be a slave to my senses," says the rigorously rational Laura. But as her sexual awakening consumes her, Laura risks rejection from her own community and harm at the hands of anti-Semitic street gangs. At the same time, Mathilde struggles to reconcile her traditional responsibilities to her husband with moral law, personal modesty, and physical desire. A film of graceful delicacy and luminous sensuality, La Petite Jérusalem subtly depicts the personal journeys taken by two modern women raised in an ancient faith.

2005 France 94 min Color
Letterboxed(1.85:1)
In French and Hebrew with optional English subtitles

A Film by KARIN ALBOU
LA PETITE JERUSALEM
FANNY VALETTE ELSA ZYLBERSTEIN BRUNO TODESCHINI HEDI TILLETTE DE CLERMONT-TONNERRE SONIA TAHAR MICHAËL COHEN and AURORE CLEMENT
Cinematography by LAURENT BRUNET
Editing by CHRISTIANE LACK
Music by CYRIL MORIN
Production Design by NICOLAS DE BOISCUILLÉ
Produced by LAURENT LAVOLÉ and ISABELLE PRAGIER
Written and Directed by KARIN ALBOU
© 2005 GLORIA FILMS ­ FILM PAR FILM
Licensed from Pyramide International

REVIEWS

"RICH AND GENTLY INTOXICATING... Albou opens up the physical and psychological spaces of two strong Jewish women..." -­ Nathan Lee, The New York Times

"AN ENGAGING STYLE...TOP-NOTCH PERFORMANCES." - Bilge Ebiri, NEW YORK MAGAZINE

AWARDS

OFFICIAL selection cannes film festival

DVD Features

• An Interview with Karin Albou
• Theatrical Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• Optional English subtitles
• Enhanced for 16x9 TVs