TO TAKE A WIFE

Three days before Shabbat in Israel: Viviane (Ronit Elkabetz) is on the verge of leaving her husband Eliahu (Simon Abkarian). Her brothers try to talk her out of it – her place, they say, is with her husband, children and family. Viviane stays, but she is at the end of her strength: a life that denies her dreams and rights, a husband to whom tradition matters more than living together. Then Albert (Gilbert Melki) reappears, a man she once loved and who once offered her the freedom to be herself. Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz tell, in “To Take a Wife” (Israel 2004), of a marriage negotiated in the kitchen and the bedroom, in arguments, silence and the watching eyes of the children.

The film is the directorial debut of actress Ronit Elkabetz, who directed together with her brother and also took the lead role. It opens a trilogy about Viviane’s marriage, continued with “Shiva” (2008) and “Gett” (2014). “To Take a Wife” premiered in 2004 in Venice, in the Semaine de la Critique, where it won the Critics’ Prize and the Audience Award. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2007.

Shown at the 2007 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2007 · Film Archive