A heavy melancholia hangs over Intimate Grammar. Set in early 1960s Jerusalem and the infancy of the State of Israel, the economic reality of recession bites hard.
But it’s also a country coming to terms with the aftermath of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War II with its associated loss and lack of understanding of the world that allowed it to happen. All the main protagonists in Nir Bergman’s haunting new film are impacted, whether it be first or second generation survivors.
The plot
Eleven-year old Aharon is introverted, pensive and lonely. Hectored by a nagging mother too concerned with external appearances to recognise the affection the young boy needs, Aharon stops growing.
Pubescence passes him by as, from a relatively outgoing personality, the discovery of a pack of playing cards featuring naked women belonging to his worshipped father deeply unsettles the boy. The foundations of his life are undermined, the impact increased as friends from school move on to join youth groups and the scout movement.
Only his older sister Yochi provides any affection – his father, a broken-spirit destroyed by his time in the camps, ineffectually attempts to play the foil to the anger of Aharon’s mother, Hinda.
She is dismissive of all her neighbours in the working-class estate in the State’s capital, but her contempt is focused in particular on Miss Blum, a youngish spinster yearning for her pre-war life and music-playing family. Hinda is convinced (rightly) that Edna Blum has designs on her weak-willed husband.
But the games the adults play are the backdrop to the story of Aharon, who moves between confusion, hope and loss in an ever downward spiral: his confused grandmother is sent away to a clinic, his best friend Gidon is attracted to Yaeli, the girl of the Aharon’s young dreams. Even Yochi escapes the nest as she is called up to the army early due to what we know to be the Six Day War and hostilities between Syria and Egypt.
Awards
Premiering at the 2010 Jerusalem Film Festival, Intimate Grammar was presented with the best Israeli film award. It went on to collect the Grand Prix at the Tokyo Film Festival and 2nd place in Miami before surprisingly walking away empty-handed from the awards night of the Israeli Academy.
With 10 nominations and the Jerusalem award under its belt, Intimate Grammar was expected to sweep the boards. As best film, it would automatically become Israel’s nomination for consideration by the Academy for best foreign language film. Instead, it received no award, with The Human Resource Manager and Eran Riklis taking out the majority of the honours.
Intimate Grammar is a haunting, achingly beautiful film with first-rate performances. The pain of adolescence and the film's melancholia sit heavy but it is this introversion and overarching sadness which, thankfully avoiding melodrama, is the film’s strength.
Personal rating: 3.5 stars
Intimate Grammar
- Directed by Nir Bergman (Broken Wings, In Therapy – TV)
- Written by Nir Bergman (Broken Wings, In Therapy – TV)
- Produced by Assaf Amir (Noodle, What a Wonderful Place)
- Starring Roee Elsberg, Orly Silbersatz (Broken Wings, Lost Islands), Yehuda Almagor (Burning Mooki, Playoff)
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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