Next to Her
Country: Israel, Language: Hebrew, 90 mins
- Director: Asaf Korman
- Writer: Liron Ben-Shlush
- Producer: Leon Edery; Moshe Edery
CGiii Comment
As difficult as it gets...dealing with profound disability.
Forthright Chelli - alone - tends to her sister's every need...although not overtly stated but, hinted at...every need includes sexual...the subtext is as fuzzy as the situation is complex.
In walks a man - who willingly cares for both of these women's needs...he [graciously] takes over. Be he a saint or a sinner?
There are confusions between veins of cruelty and arterial frustration...between the rights of the able-minded and the not-so...questioning matters of privacy - are the vulnerable justifiably denied their own time and space?!? If so, why?
A difficult, uncomfortable film that will make you think twice before jumping to conclusions and the offence of silent accusation.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Rachel, 27, is raising her mentally challenged sister Gabby, 24, all by herself. When the social worker finds out she leaves her sister alone in the house while at work, she is forced to place her in a day-care center. For the first time in her life she shares the upbringing of her dear sister with someone else, her daily routine collapses and the huge void, left by her sister's absence, makes room for a man in Rachel's life. That man, Zohar, tears another crack in the symbiotic relationship of the two sisters. Rachel hangs on to his love as if it was a life belt. But her inability to lead a normal, intimate and emotional relationship with anyone but her sister, forces them into a twisted threesome, where boundaries between love, sacrifice, nurturing and torturing - are broken.
Cast & Characters
Liron Ben-Shlush as Chelli;
Jacob Daniel as Zohar;
Dana Ivgy as Gabby