A Tale of Love and Darkness (film)

A Tale of Love and Darkness

Film poster
Directed by Natalie Portman
Produced by Ram Bergman
David Mandil
Screenplay by Natalie Portman
Based on A Tale of Love and Darkness
by Amos Oz
Starring Natalie Portman
Amir Tessler
Gilad Kahana
Music by Nicholas Britell
Cinematography Sławomir Idziak
Edited by Andrew Mondshein
Production
company
Voltage Pictures
Black Bicycle Entertainment
Ram Bergman Productions
MoviePlus Productions
Distributed by Focus World
Release dates
  • May 16, 2015 (2015-05-16) (Cannes)
  • September 3, 2015 (2015-09-03) (Israel)
  • August 19, 2016 (2016-08-19) (US)
Running time
 95 minutes
Country Israel
Language Hebrew
Arabic
English
Polish
Box office $71,862[1]

A Tale of Love and Darkness is a 2015 drama film directed by Natalie Portman, based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Israeli author Amos Oz. It takes place in Jerusalem in the last years of Mandatory Palestine and the first years of independent Israel, and stars Amir Tessler as Oz, and Gilad Kahana and Portman as his parents. It is Portman's directorial feature debut. It was screened at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival[2][3] and in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[4]

Plot

Amos reflects back on his life when he was a child living in Mandatory Palestine with his mother, Fania (Natalie Portman) and father, Arieh (Gilad Kahana). His parents are European refugees living in Jerusalem which his mother finds difficult as her sisters and family are located in Tel Aviv and communication between them is difficult. Amos, an only child, is particularly close with his mother, who frequently tells him stories based on her childhood which often have unhappy or violent endings.

Amos is leant out by his parents to a childless couple who is their friend. On one of these visits he is taken to the home of a friend of his parent's friends who are Palestinian. Despite being warned to be quiet and not make too much fuss less he anger his hosts, Amos accidentally injures a child while playing with a swing.

On November 29, 1947, Amos and his family gather in the street along with others in their neighbourhood and hear the passing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 officially making Israel a country recognized by the United Nations. Amos' parents are overwhelmed with joy. Soon after civil war breaks out. Amos's father enlists to fight in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and Amos and other children are recruited to the war effort. One of his mother's friends is also murdered as a consequence of the war.

Fania falls into a depression and becomes unable to sleep or eat. Amos and Arieh try their best to hide her depression from their friends and family. After a change in pills Fania abruptly becomes her old more lively self and tries to act normal for her husband and child. A short time later she relapses once more and goes to visit her sisters in Tel Aviv. While there she commits suicide.

Amos leaves home and goes to live on a kibbutz. Reuniting with his father as a teenager he shows him is new life but admits that despite his attempts at being a strong and healthy farmer he is still a pale and weak intellectual.

An older Amos sits down to write his memoirs, beginning with the word, "mother."

Cast

Production

Director and cast at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

According to Portman, she optioned the rights to the book over tea, while visiting with Oz and his wife. It took her eight years to write the script and find funding, during which time she insisted that the adaptation remain in Hebrew.[5]

It is the first film in which Portman speaks Hebrew. In order to play the role of Amos Oz's mother, an immigrant from Eastern Europe, Portman took considerable efforts to remove all traces of an American accent from her Hebrew.[6]

Portman recruited designer Alber Elbaz to design the costumes she wore in the film.[7]

Reception

The film has received mixed to positive reviews, with 65% of the film critics on the online review website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a positive rating, from 48 total reviews. The current consensus is "A Tale of Love and Darkness suggests greater things for debuting writer-director Natalie Portman -- even if its reach slightly exceeds her creative grasp."[8]

References

External links

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