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The Secrets tells the story of two brilliant, spirited young women - Naomi (Ania Bukstein) and Michelle (Michal Shtamler) - whose encounter with a mysterious, ailing French woman in the birthplace of Kabala forces them to question the rules by which they have lived their entire lives.
Following the death of her mother, the bookish, devoutly religious Naomi persuades her father, a prominent rabbi, to postpone her marriage to his top student for a year, in order that she might study at a 'Midrasha' - a Jewish seminary for women. The ultra orthodox Jewish community frowns upon Naomi's academic interests: women are expected to marry, bare children and support their husbands' study of the Torah, not improve their own minds. But despite his misgivings, the rabbi allows his daughter to travel to the ancient Kabalistic seat of Safed, to enroll in the Midrasha. There, Naomi meets the free-spirited Michelle, whose wealthy family has sent her to Safed in the hopes that she will become more devout and maybe even find a husband. The two become roommates and eventually, the closest of friends.
One day, while volunteering alongside their fellow students at a local soup kitchen, Naomi and Michelle are assigned the task of bringing food to a desperately sick French woman named Anouk. Haunted by a violent and disturbing past, Anouk has journeyed to Safed to seek redemption for her sins. Michelle, a fluent French speaker, warms to Anouk and convinces a reluctant Naomi to use her considerable knowledge of Jewish mystical practices to help her aid the dying foreigner. Despite the danger of being expelled from the seminary, Naomi and Michelle secretly study Kabalistic texts in order to guide Anouk through a series of complex and demanding cleansing rituals ('Tikun') that they hope will relieve her suffering, but as they try to guide Anouk to the Light, they must first penetrate and decipher the French woman’s dark past.
The process opens up overwhelming new horizons for all three women. Naomi, for the first time in her life, opens up to the very notion of passion and realizes that her true calling lies beyond the rigid framework of orthodox society. Michelle meets a local Klezmer musician and learns a new love and respect for tradition. Anouk, meanwhile, achieves a measure of internal peace through the healing power of belief. But this newfound enlightenment comes at a price. Caught between helping Anouk and observing conventions, Naomi and Michelle must reconcile two seemingly incompatible forces within their lives: the impulse to protect traditions and maintain order, and the desire to be true to themselves and pursue their own destinies, no matter the cost.
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Midrasha
Until a few decades ago learning of the Torah and Talmud was solely a male affair. In many religious communities, women were taught only the basic Jewish laws they required in order to fulfill their tasks as wives, child-bearers and mothers. According to Jewish law and tradition Torah studying is compulsory for men if they ever want to reach heaven, but a woman's way to heaven is to enable her husband and sons to study Torah.
Indeed in ultra orthodox communities, women - besides having at least five or six children (sometimes even twelve or more) - are the main breadwinners of the family, whilst the men sit and study in Yeshiva. As a woman's status in the world has changed, there has been a growing dissonance between an orthodox woman's secular life (work, studies etc.) and her 'place' in the world as dictated by Jewish law. To reconcile this difference, women began fighting for their right to study Torah, just as men do in their Yeshiva schools. Thus the Midrasha was founded by Orthodox feminists.
In order not to interfere with women's main responsibilities of building a large family, women's studies in Midrasha are essentially for girls between high-school and marriage. This means postponing marriage for a year or so (frowned upon in the ultra orthodox communities) and going to study Torah in the Midrasha.
However, no matter how much or well women study Torah, giving them any kind of rabbinical role in the Jewish orthodox community is strictly prohibited. The purpose of the Midrasha is solely the studying itself. Women will never be appointed as leaders in the Jewish congregation, and never become Rabbis. Or is this too, just a matter of time?
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Safed
Safed is one of the four holy cities in Israel, together with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. According to the great mystics of the past, Safed is to play an important role in the "final redemption". Also, as legend tells, Safed is where Shem and Ever, son and grandson of Noah, established the first school for monotheistic studies.
Safed's intrigue lies in its mystery. Strolling through its meandering cobblestone streets, you never know where they will take you. Home to a vibrant religious community of Jewish scholars who come to study in the various Yeshivas and Midrashas, Safed has the ideal conditions for those seeking communion with God. Amongst the mountains, nearby forest and holy burial grounds, many Jewish scholars enjoy Safed's seclusion and serenity.
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Kabala
The Kabala is an ancient form of Jewish mysticism which offers mystical insight into divine nature by deciphering and revealing the "codes" and hidden meanings of the Hebrew Bible, The Tanach.
Modern rabbis date the origins of Kabala to the 13th century, when Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai wrote the Zohar, a mystical commentary on the Torah which deciphers the very elements of creation. In the same century, the great Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, otherwise known as Rambam, spread his philosophical teachings, which apply Kabala to the basic human need of establishing contact with a higher power.
Kabala received its biggest boost in the Jewish world with the explication of the Kabalistic teachings of Safed resident, Rabbi Isaac Luria, also known as The Ari (1534-1572). Luria's teachings came to rival the influence of the Zohar and his teachings were adopted by mystics of other religions as well.
In recent years, the teachings of Kabala have become popularized by the highly controversial Kabala center, founded in 1984 by Phillip Berg, which has drawn in celebrities such as Madonna, Demi Moore, Mick Jagger and Britney Spears. The Center's teachings are viewed as a mixture of Kabalistic terminology and various new age teachings. While it continues to attract members across the globe, the Center is frowned up by most Orthodox Jews.
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Ari
Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-July 25, 1572) was a Jewish scholar and mystic, and is one of the most revered teachers of Kabala. He is also known as Ari and He-Ari ("The Lion") from the acronym for Adoneinu Rabbeinu Itzhak ("Our Master Our Rabbi Yitzhak").
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Kabala
An ancient form of Jewish mysticism which offers mystical insight into divine nature by deciphering and revealing the "codes" and hidden meanings of the Hebrew Bible, The Tanach.
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Klezmer
During the 15th century, a tradition of secular (non-liturgical) Jewish music was developed by musicians called kleyzmorim that drew on devotional traditions extending back into Biblical times. Their musical legacy of klezmer continues to evolve today. The repertoire is largely dance songs for weddings and other celebrations. Due to the Ashkenazi lineage of this music, the lyrics, terminology and song titles are typically in Yiddish.
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Midrasha
Founded by Jewish Orthodox feminists, it is a Jewish Seminary for women to study the Torah and Talmud after high school and before marriage.
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Mikve
A religious bath used both by Jewish men and women for cleansing rituals. Women are obliged to immerse in a Mikve once a month from wedlock until menopause. The ritual's purpose is to purify women from the 'impure blood' so that they are once again physically acceptable to their husbands.
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Safed
The stunning, white city of Safed is the birthplace of Kabala (Jewish mysticism) and is one of four holy cities in Israel, together with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. Both historically, and presently, the city is known as a place of refuge. Strolling through Safed's cobblestone streets and mysterious alleyways, one is immediately struck by its welcoming and comforting, mystical and spiritual atmosphere.
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Talmud
The Talmud is a record of rabbinical discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history.
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Tikun
A Kabalistic cleansing rite.
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Zohar
Zohar (in Hebrew "Splendor, radiance") is widely considered the most important work of Kabala. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), written in medieval Hebrew, which contains a mystical discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, redemption, good and evil, and related topics.
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The Secrets was co-written and directed by Avi Nesher, one of Israel's most influential and innovative filmmakers. The script's other co-writer, London-born Hadar Galron, is a unique and highly controversial phenomenon within Israeli culture: she is an orthodox woman and an outspoken feminist, who won the national 2005 "Play of the Year" award for her stage hit "Mikve", which allowed a rare glimpse into a hidden world, and exposed a political and social agenda not known to many.
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Watch interview with the lead Actresses
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Watch interview with the Director
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Read full Interview with the Director
Interview with Director and Screenwriter Avi Nesher
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How did The Secrets come into being?
A few years ago, while I was doing a documentary called Oriental about the failure of the Camp David Peace talks, I realized that a major part of the Middle Eastern problem was connected to feminist issues. If you're talking about Eastern versus Western culture, a woman's position in society becomes a central question. In the Eastern version, a woman takes a backseat to a man's role: she can have a family and kids, but she doesn't run the show. The Western version, on the other hand, promotes equality. This Western notion becomes a nightmare for the Eastern perception of the sexes, which is not a uniquely Muslim phenomenon - many 'traditional' societies subscribe to this view. Orthodox Jews are no different. Orthodox Judaism puts women in a secondary position as well. For instance, orthodox Jewish women do not go to institutions of higher Jewish learning; they are basically kept uneducated.
Sometime later, I found out that there is a feminist revolution going on within orthodox Jewry. This was interesting and new to me. Quietly, Yeshivas for women are being established called "Midrasha's". These Midrashas are not the same as their male counterparts, since in a Midrasha, women only study for a year, do not obtain a degree and afterwards, the women are still expected to get married and have kids. Still, deep down, there's something very subversive about these institutions because clearly this is the beginning of a movement that will eventually shake up the whole society.
I thought it would be interesting to make a movie about women in a traditional society engaging in this form of quiet rebellion. I started to do research. Then it occurred to me that I shouldn't write the script by myself, but collaborate with a woman who comes from that background. Luckily, I ran into Hadar Galron, a wonderful playwright who wrote "Mikve", a highly acclaimed play that was awarded "Play of the Year" at the Israeli National Theatre Awards in 2005. Hadar is an orthodox woman. She's also extremely smart, staunchly feminist and very funny. In her former career as a standup comedian, she received a lot of hate mail. In other words, Hadar is a woman after my own heart. We met several times and the project grew from there.
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How did the script develop?
I have this great belief that when you write a screenplay, you should write it based as closely as possible on truth. I have no trust in my imagination, which is infected by cinema. Everything I "invent" is a by-product of something I've heard or seen. So when I write screenplays, I undertake extensive research. We went up to Safed, this very spiritual, "new-agey" place, and delved into this mystical world. We interviewed hundreds of people, took bits and pieces from their stories, and wrote something fictional, based on truth. The Secrets isn't the story of one person, but rather of many. What began as an investigation into a political process became greater: it became the story of people, belief systems and a state of mind we'd gotten to know.
I hate movies that are about one thing - "a love story" or "a war movie." Life is more complex, and I believe movies should reflect that complexity. My movies reflect life; they do not imitate it. For example, the heroine of the movie Naomi, would like to be a great rabbi like her father. But that's unthinkable. She doesn't dare to articulate her dream out loud when the movie starts, but she certainly says it pretty loud by the time the movie ends. The process Naomi goes through is similar to the process many of the young women we encountered during our research go through. What they told me is: the experience changes us, and we want to change the world. No less.
I like to make movies about worlds that are as unfamiliar to me as they are to my audiences. I believe that if a movie is done well, you'll want to go back and see it again and again. I always tell people that I make movies for the second time you see them, not the first time. I think if you create a world that's rich enough, you need a second viewing to take in the whole world and the journey properly.
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How did you go about casting The Secrets?
Because I don't trust my imagination, it usually takes me seven or eight months to cast my movies. Casting is a process akin to falling in love with your actors, both female and male. I need to believe that the actor that I choose is the character; that he or she won't just play the character. I had to find two young women with amazing chemistry for Naomi and Michelle. I remember this magical moment in the auditions: when Michal Shtamler tested with Ania Bukstein and her hands were shaking. I thought she was trembling because she was nervous. But she was actually nervous about Ania. It was beautiful to watch these two actresses discover the chemistry between them. I take no credit for it. It just happened.
Cinema is about magic. You can use all the special effects you want, but actors are the cinema's greatest special effects. Nothing is more amazing than when two actors hit it off. I don't care how many CGI spaceships you send across the screen, ultimately it's about the way Katherine Hepburn looks at Cary Grant in "Bringing up Baby" that keeps us watching.
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How did the main actors approach their roles?
These two secular actresses became religious women for four to five months. They studied Jewish religious texts, Kabala, singing, and dancing. They even spent their weekends with a religious family. With time, the process allowed them to shape their characters more and more, until they became truly unique. They took tremendous chances. There was no fear on the set. They went as far as they needed to go with each scene. It was a joyful experience. Watching Fanny Ardant, this great actress and movie star interact with Michal and Ania was like watching this lioness with her two lion cubs. She was so generous and gracious towards them, and they were affectionate and adoring back. The three of them created this amazing cinematic triangle. I watched them with awe.
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You like to make movies that transport audiences into worlds that they might not otherwise have access to themselves. How did you tackle the issue of filming the normally "closed" world of the Midrasha and Safed?
It is difficult to get inside this world. It's a magical kingdom of holy shrines, religious baths, caves and burial grounds. At first, the people of Safed were wary of our intentions. They were worried that we might present them in a negative light, or worse, expose the hidden feminist revolution by revealing the lives of the women inside the Midrasha. They were particularly petrified about the ritual bath scene. When they asked me how I was planning to shoot the women in that scene, I said, "undressed, I should think." "But this is forbidden!" they cried, to which I replied, "If I shoot them with their clothes on, then that wouldn't be accurate." This totally freaked them out. At first, I couldn't see why a naked woman would be such an issue. But then I realized how shocking the subversive power of the female was to them. My god, a naked woman! The world will fall to pieces! There was a real fear about what might be unleashed if women suddenly get their way.
After much discussion, they relented and were very gracious. I promised the rabbis that we would show things as they are. I never make movies about people I dislike. I make movies about worlds and people that interest me. So despite their initial suspicions, the people of Safed let us spend time in many holy sites. They eventually even let us shoot there, which was unprecedented. We had to build the school and the ritual baths, but the synagogues, caves and shrines in the movie are real. We also had a number of orthodox Jews working on the crew as consultants to make sure that we were very precise about our depiction of rituals and practice.
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The Secrets has an unusual musical score. How did you go about creating it?
When we started doing research for the movie, we heard these women in the Midrasha sing the most amazing religious songs, which remind me of Gregorian chants. There's so much pent-up passion and sexual energy in the Midrasha, and these women have so much love for God, that music is the most obvious outlet for this amazing energy. You wouldn't find the fervor that these young women display in Manhattan's noisiest club.
Technically, I was forbidden to listen to this music because according to Jewish orthodox thinking, the voice of a woman is like a sexual organ. Men are not allowed to hear women singing, and women aren't allowed to sing if there are any men around. Once again, the male-dominated establishment fears that the world will fall to pieces should women express themselves in any way. Although I was kicked out every time, I eventually did get to hear these songs sung in the Midrasha. Hadar recorded them, and I wanted to use them in the movie. This caused concern among the religious leaders, but I explained that the women singing these songs would be secular actors, not religious students, so they relented.
With the help of Eyal Sela, one of the foremost exponents of world music in Israel, we recorded the music of the Midrasha, which had never been done before. Working on the music helped me understand what this movie is ultimately about: passion.
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To what extent is The Secrets an "Israeli" movie?
I don't see The Secrets as an Israeli movie, but rather a Jewish one. To a certain extent, it does relate to Israeli inner social conflict, but mainly in terms of the broader universal context of orthodoxy versus modernism.
For me, Israel is no longer a unique country. Some of my earlier movies dealt with the mythological aspects of the country, but today Israel is a western country for better or worse. A battle is being waged here between two belief systems, an orthodox one (both Jewish, Muslim, and Christian) and a modern one. Israel is the front where East meets West, and these two systems collide.
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How did your own religious education help with the making of the movie?
When I was teenager, my dad was sent to New York on a diplomatic mission. My parents thought it would be best for me to go to a Yeshiva. I was this very rebellious secular kid in a school full of Orthodox Jews. I would challenge everything they believed in, and they tried to convert me as hard as they could. It was quite a fight. But on the plus side, I can now pretty much hold my own in the Talmudic texts Gemara and Mishnah. It would have been difficult to make this movie without this background. It was during my time at the Yeshiva that I began to understand some of the things that I think are wrong with orthodox society, as well as many of the things that are wonderful about it. I was careful not to knock this world in the movie. It's a beautiful, warm, family oriented, well-reasoned world. I can see why orthodox Jews are so resistant to the advance of Western culture. I'm not sure that what the West has to offer as an alternative is so very superior to their way of life.
Generally speaking, I was very careful not to be overly critical of things that I don't do much better myself. So in this movie, I've deliberately created a contrast between people trying to achieve personal freedoms and a well-ordered world trying to protect its effectiveness. I tried to be very respectful to both sides because I underwent the same thing myself when I was studying in a Yeshiva.
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What does Safed mean to you?
My first introduction to Safed was 30 years ago when I was a soldier stationed up North. My parents were living in New York at the time. When we were given leave on the weekends, my fellow soldiers went home and since I had not place to go, all I did was watch movies - and Safed had great movie houses. When the movie would let out, I would walk around Safed's cobblestone streets. The place felt like a Hollywood set; it seemed inconceivable to me that this place could exist in the real world.
People come to Safed for a purpose, never by coincidence. Everyone you meet there has a story. People say that in Safed you can actually feel God all around you. I don't know about that, but you do feel spirituality and belief all around you, and the power of belief is intoxicating. Everybody you meet believes really strongly about something. For a hedonistic person like myself, encountering this state of mind was fascinating. Plus, I would walk these streets and visualize the movie I would make some day.
Safed is a vibrant place, where many different worlds meet. If you go at two in the morning to the cemetery where the oldest sages in Israel are buried, everyone's out there communicating with God. It's a big party! The cemetery is not a place of the dead, but of the living, where the living communicate with the dead. There is something so open, inviting and liberal about Safed; it's religious, yet tolerant. Traditionally, it's also been a city of refuge - a place to go if you've sinned, and where no one can harm you. The tradition continues to this day; many criminals who have done time, as well as people afraid of retribution from gangs, hide out there. There's no violence in Safed. It's truly a safe place. Yet many of the stories you hear in Safed are violent. All this creates this bizarre energy.
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Is The Secrets a "love story"?
I didn't want to make a love story in the traditional sense of the term. The love story exists between two young women, but the movie isn't about that. The love story is part of everything else that takes place, such as Naomi's great love of learning and freedom and Michelle's immediate connection with Anouk.
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To what extent does the movie deal with the theme of penance and absolution?
I was really fascinated by the idea of righting a wrong. I'm not a particularly religious person, but there comes a time when you look at your life, and see that there are things that you like and don't like about the way you've lived. At that point, it's incumbent upon you to fix things that you've done wrong.
This is a "Tikun" - meaning 'to fix' in Hebrew. It's not a particularly Jewish notion, more a Christian notion of confession and absolution. But in Judaism, Tikun is not about confession, but rather about acknowledgment. And it's not about dealing with a priest, but, rather, with the person you've wronged. It's about accountability - taking responsibility for the narrative of your life.
I thought it would be interesting to do a movie where both the protagonist and antagonist need absolution for something and are thrown together in a situation where what they do today relates to what they have or have not done in the past. This was the philosophical system behind the movie.
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How did The Secrets come into being?
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Watch interview with the Writer
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Read full interview with the Writer
Interview with Screenwriter Hadar Galron
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As a woman who grew up in an ultra orthodox Jewish community, what are your views on the status of women in these communities?
In these closed ultra orthodox communities, women work and study, some even have degrees, but in anything pertaining to Jewish law, women have been kept down. The traditional view is that a woman's place is in the kitchen. There's something very trying about this status quo in today's world, where women no longer stay home and bring up the kids while the men go to work. A new breed of wonder woman has evolved in the orthodox world - a woman who manages to juggle 12 kids, wash, clean, cook and be a doctor - all this while her husband sits and studies in the Yeshiva.
A shift is definitely taking place in these communities, which echoes what's happening to the status of women in the world in general. This is particularly intriguing in Jewish society because Jewish law forbids women to do many things. For instance, there's a Jewish law that says that women are not allowed to act as witnesses in a rabbinical court; or according to Jewish law, a woman can't divorce her husband, only a man can get a divorce. This seems crazy today, yet these laws still exist. Most of the Jewish laws concerning women aren't even written for women - they're written for a male audience. Women are simply considered to be part of a man's property, which is what I see as the main problem with Jewish law. Today, women are beginning to understand that we are not men's possessions - but that we possess ourselves.
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What was it like to grow up in an ultra orthodox Jewish community?
I grew up in the ultra orthodox community of Golders Green in London. I have a childhood memory of one of the rabbis in our synagogue giving out flyers saying that girls over the age of three would not be allowed to wear black painted shoes anymore. Why? Because our knickers might be seen in the reflection on our shoes. This seems so perverse. This rule had nothing to do with three-year-old girls, but with what was going on in the mind of the rabbi who thought of the rule.
At seven years old, I was certain that I'd get married and have ten children. I liked the idea. Moving to Israel and attending a much more liberal school than I had attended in England marked the beginning of the transition that would ultimately sever my ties with the ultra orthodox way of life. For the first time, I began to see things from the outside. I began to ask questions. The more questions I asked, the more annoyed I got. It's unbelievable that in today's world, Jewish men get up in the morning and say "thank you god for not making me a woman," while Jewish women say "thank you god for making me as you wished." The second major step in my transition was joining the army. My dad didn't want me to go, but I decided I'd do it anyway. Then I studied theatre at the university where I met my current husband. He also comes from a very religious house, but has an open mind and sees the foolishness of living according to laws that were written 2000 years ago.
There's always a tension between the need to maintain traditions and the need to keep evolving. I sometimes say that I traded my religion for faith. I believe in God today more than I ever did. I feel close to God. But as for religion, I'd say I'm keeping much less of the religious way of life than I used to. I have a great respect and love for the Jewish tradition and texts, but it's time for a renewal; more voices should be heard. We need to create new content to fill something that has become an empty vessel. I am constantly searching for that content. Every day, I ask myself who am I? Why am I? Where am I going? Where do I come from? In being able to answer these questions, I have found a place of quiet and silence, where I feel whole with myself. I had to cross the border to find that place.
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What is a Midrasha, and what are your views about women studying Jewish law?
A Midrasha is the women's version of a Yeshiva (Jewish theological seminary for men). Women's studies have been around in orthodox Jewish communities for the last fifty years. In the beginning, it was all very hush-hush because of the belief that paradise belongs to men who study Torah and to women who let their husbands and sons study Torah. Funnily enough, it's a known fact that some of the most basic books in Jewish law were written by women under men's names.
There's something so deep, wise and old in many of the Torah's teachings, but we need to hear a woman's voice - her teachings and her wisdom. The Torah is like an ocean; it has everything in it. Women will give a great deal back to the religious world when they are able to dive deeply into this ocean.
The Midrasha is the first step on the path to equal rights. Just as women are finding their way into rabbinical courts, they'll also break down other barriers. I believe that some day there will be women rabbis in the ultra orthodox community.
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Are you a feminist?
A woman once asked me: "You have both a son and a daughter. Do you want them to have the same opportunities in life?" I answered, "of course!" To which she replied, "Then you're a feminist." If that's what a feminist is, then, yes I am a feminist.
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How is the religious world portrayed in The Secrets?
The Secrets celebrates religious ideas and the wonderful touch of religion in life such as making a blessing before you eat. But the tensions inherent in the notion of canceling yourself out for an idea are very strong in the film. The film is about having the courage to be yourself. You need courage to change on the inside in order to change on the outside as well.
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How close to reality is the world of The Secrets?
The movie is very accurate. The real orthodox Jewish communities in Safed and other urban areas look just like they do in the film. Women studying Jewish texts, as they do in the film, exist today. The closed world and closed minds of the urban ultra orthodox community exists today. We never tried to create a stereotype image of this world. I come from this environment, and I know exactly what it looks like. No one is going to trick me into believing a lie.
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What is the impact of female education on traditional matchmaking practices, both in
general and in the film?
Matchmaking is a big issue. For every woman who wants to study more, there are several men in their isolated worlds who are much less open-minded. Men don't want learned women - to them, a learned woman is a ruined woman. On the other hand, many women feel that they can't embark upon married life without understanding it from the inside. This creates a lot of tension. There are, unsurprisingly, many spinsters in the religious world. The headmistress who runs the Midrasha in the film believes that a woman's desire to learn doesn't contradict her need to be a mother and wife. This is why she serves both as a matchmaker and a teacher.
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What is your view of sexuality and intimacy in the orthodox world - and in the movie?
Women's sexuality is regarded as a dangerous thing. When there's a wild animal outside, do the police tell everyone to lock themselves in their houses or do they go and find the wild animal and put it in a cage? Obviously, they do the latter. But I believe that if women are such a danger, let the men lock themselves in - we don't need to be in cages anymore.
Intimacy between women, as portrayed in the film, is actually very common in the orthodox community. I have at least two friends who aren't lesbians today, but their first sexual contact was with women. It's simply that they grew up around women, and there were no men around at the time that they entered puberty. Sexuality begins with a connection of the soul.
I wouldn't call The Secrets a lesbian movie. The two protagonists connect as soul mates. They connect in many ways. Their closeness isn't necessarily a reflection of what might happen to them in their futures. Through the Tikun process, they find their inner passions, and their inner lust for life; they seek for the high and they find the low. Sexuality plays a part in all of this, but it's just one aspect of their journey together.
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From what perspective do you approach Kabala in the film?
Kabala has become very popular lately. Kabala interests people from all over the world because it deals with the meaning of life -- the questions that people ask themselves when they are true to themselves and when they are looking for answers. Kabala has a mystical side. The deeper you delve, the more secrets you find. But in its most straightforward sense, the word Kabala refers to the explanations of the Torah that were part of the oral tradition and only later set down in writing.
In the film, we wanted to explore Kabala from the virgin perspective of someone who had never touched it before. Naomi is very skeptical about whether the teachings of Kabala will really work. Until the very end of the film, it is unclear whether she really believes in it or not. Up to that point, she thinks that the powerful effect of Kabala might be purely psychological.
If I could sum up the film with one quote it would be: "Our beliefs create our lives." Naomi decides to change her own path because she's touched some place in her soul that has not been touched before and she wants to follow this new truth to wherever it takes her. She doesn't become a Kabalist, though. Kabala is just the medium through which we as filmmakers could access each character's innermost beliefs.
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As a woman who grew up in an ultra orthodox Jewish community, what are your views on the status of women in these communities?
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Avi Nesher (Director)
One of Israel's most influential filmmakers, Nesher directed his very first movie "The Troupe" at the age of 24. An Israeli cult classic, "The Troupe" is a controversial movie that shocked the Israeli establishment by ridiculing the "sacred cow" Israeli military. A year later (1979) Nesher wrote and directed another Israeli classic "Dizengoff 99". In 1983, Nesher took a dangerous stab at a more personal endeavor with "Rage and Glory", which tells the controversial story of a Jewish terror organization during the 1940's. The movie caused a political storm, was lauded by international critics, and in 2001 was selected by the Lincoln Center Film Society as one of the most important films in fifty years of Israeli cinema.
After seeing "Rage and Glory", producer Dino De Laurentis convinced Nesher to come to Hollywood, where Nesher initially worked penning studio assignments for such filmmakers as Ron Howard and James Cameron. In 1990, Nesher wrote and directed the sci-fi mystery "Timebomb" for MGM (produced by Rafaella De Laurentiis) and the sensual supernatural mystery "Doppelganger" for 20th Century Fox, starring Drew Barrymore. Both films won prizes at the Avoriaz Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival in France. Nesher's next theatrical offering, The Taxman (2001), which he wrote, produced and directed, opened to extraordinary reviews: The New York Times called the film "A delight…a charmer of a mystery" and Jeffrey Lyons of NBC hailed it as "A cinematic gem…not to be missed!"
In 2001, Nesher decided to honor his father's memory by writing and directing "Turn Left at the End of the World" - a surreal deconstruction of Israel's immigration mythology. The movie became Israel's greatest box office success in the last twenty years. Later in 2004, Nesher directed the highly experimental political documentary "Oriental", which has won the "Spirit of Freedom" award at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
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Hadar Galron (Writer)
Hadar Galron, a playwright, actress and comedian, was born in Golders-Green, London, (1970) in a Jewish orthodox family and immigrated to Israel with her family at the age of 13. Hadar first became known from a comedy she created together with another religious comedian (Bidur Kahalacha). It was the first time in Israel's history that two orthodox women performed on a professional stage and what more, dared to laugh at the orthodox world they belonged to. The successful show ran over 500 times. Hadar then created a one-woman satirical comedy about women's status in Jewish law (Pulsa). Sharp, witty and highly critical of Jewish orthodoxy, the show aroused the wrath of many religious forums that immediately banned it and forbade their communities to go and see it; she even received threats on her life. Despite this, the audience poured in (even ultra-orthodox women). Today, "Pulsa" is still alive, after 5 years and close to 600 performances. "Mikve" (2005), Hadar's first full-length drama for theatre takes a peek at orthodox women's lives via the most intimate ritual - the Mikve. While "Mikve" was also highly controversial, it was nominated for eight National theatre awards and won two - including Israel's prestigious "Play of the Year" award in 2005.
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Fanny Ardant (Anouk)
Fanny Ardant was discovered by the celebrated director Francois Truffaut, who offered her a role in his film "The Woman Next Door" (1981), where she starred opposite Gerard Depardieu. Her performance in the film brought her international recognition and her first Oscar nomination for best actress in 1982.
Ardant became Truffaut's companion and remained with him until his death in 1984. Fanny starred in Truffaut's last film "Vivement Dimanche!", for which she received her second César nomination for best actress. Some of Ardant's most memorable performances showcased her comedic talent, such as "Pédale Douce" in 1996, which won her that year's César Award for Best Actress. In that same year, Fanny also appeared in the highly acclaimed costume drama "Ridicule" (Oscar-nominated Best Foreign Film), as the delightfully acidic Madame de Blayac.
Fanny occasionally ventured outside of French cinema and worked in such productions as "La Famiglia" and "Le Cena" for Italian director Ettore Scola, a small supporting role in 1995 Sydney Pollack's film "Sabrina", and in 1998 Oscar-nominated drama "Elizabeth". In 2002, she took on the role sister-in-law of Catherine Deneuve in François Ozon's hit musical comedy/murder mystery, "8 Femmes", a role which won her a new wave of international fan following. Currently she has received rave reviews in Paris, starring in Marguerite Duras' "The Disease of Death".
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Ania Bukstein (Naomi)
Stunningly beautiful, Ania Bukstein's first feature film role came when she was 16, in Orna Ben David's film "New Country". She was nominated for an Israeli Academy Award for best performance by a female actor. Currently, Ania is one of Israel's leading stage and screen young actresses. Most recently she was nominated for best actress for her role in the national theatre presentation of "War".
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Michal Shtamler (Michelle)
In 2005, Michal Shtamler graduated with a BA in Theatre from Tel Aviv University. Today she is recognized as Jerusalem Khan's theatre brightest young star. She received great acclaim for her role in Calderon's "Life is a Dream". This is her first movie role.
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The unique liturgical music sung by the young women of the Midrasha features an enchanting Galilee sound. The text is purely scripture, but the music is a bewitching fusion between Druze and Cincassion influences and Eastern European Klezmer traditions.
Some of the songs were written by the late Rabbi Shlomo Karlebach, some by Eyal Sela (an Israeli composer) and some by unknown composers. The unique vocal arrangements hark back to the Midrasha meditative concepts.
Orthodox Jews believe in the Talmudic saying "Kol BeIsha Erva", meaning a woman's voice induces desire, which is why Orthodox Judaism forbids the performance of such music in public. The Secrets is the first movie to feature and record such music.
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Theme songs Tikun
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Pia Patra
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Shalom Haleichem
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Shomer Yisrael
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Ode to Michel
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Wedding Song
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Credits
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