Three Mothers (2006 film)

Three Mothers (Hebrew: שלוש אמהות, Shalosh Imahot) is a 2006 Israeli drama film, directed by Dina Zvi-Riklis.

Three Mothers
Film's poster - brown floral background, with an oval picture frame, in which we see the three main characters as young women. At the bottom of the frame is a black and white photo of the women when they are older.
Directed byDina Zvi-Riklis
Screenplay byAlma Ganihar
Dina Zvi-Riklis
StarringGila Almagor
Miri Mesika
Rivka Raz
Reymond Amsalem
Tali Sharon
Tracy Abramovich
Dana Zilberstein
CinematographyShai Goldman
Edited byTova Ascher
Production
company
Release date
13 July 2006
Running time
106 minutes

Plot synopsis

The film follows three sisters who were born as triplets: Rose, Flora and Yasmeen. The sisters grow up in a prosperous family in Egypt, and are visited by King Farouk. The film moves between the current-day relationship of the sisters, now in their sixties, and their story from when they were young, as they relate it to Ruha, Rose's daughter.

The girls' mother died young, when the family lived in Alexandria. The widowed father decides to move to Tel Aviv, in Israel, where he opens a large shop. Rose, who is fiercely independent, begins a relationship with a young man her father does not approve of. When she becomes pregnant, marriage becomes a priority for all the sisters. On the eve of their triple wedding, the father dies.

The film is woven throughout with the singing of younger Rose, played by singer Miri Mesika. We learn of the complex relations among the sisters through their encounters with Ruha, who films them telling their stories. As she peels off the sisters' outer layers of secrets and past wrongs, what she hears causes her emotional distress, and she is worried this might affect her attempts to become pregnant. As it turns out, the acts and betrayals carried out by the sisters are beyond her imagination.

Awards

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result
2006 Awards of the Israeli Film Academy Best Cinematography Shai Goldman Won [1]
Best Costume Design Rona Doron Won
Best Film Shmulik Neufeld
Eran Riklis
Ifat Perstalink
Nominated
Best Director Dina Zvi-Riklis Nominated
Best Editing Tova Ascher Nominated
Best Art Direction Eitan Levi Nominated
Best Music Ori Zakh
Shmulik Neufeld
Nominated
Best Sound Israel David
Gil Toren
Asher Milo
Nominated
Jerusalem Film Festival Best Cinematography Shai Goldman Won [1]
Best Israeli Feature Dina Zvi-Riklis Nominated
Special Prize Gila Almagor Won
2007 Jersey Shore Film Festival Best Feature Film Dina Zvi-Riklis Won
2008 Vesoul Asian Film Festival Golden Wheel Dina Zvi-Riklis Nominated

Cast

Actor Character
Gila Almagor Older Rose
Miri Mesika Younger Rose
Tracy Abramowitz Older Yasmeen
Dana Zilberstein Younger Yasmeen
Rivka Raz Older Flora
Reymond Amsalem Younger Flora
Tali Sharon Ruha
Beni Avni Yoni
Shmil Ben Ari Older Menashe
Amos Tamam Younger Menashe
Yehezkel Lazarov Felix
Yoram Toledano Gavriel
Yoram Hatav Eliyahu Hakim
Natalie Atia Rachel Hakim

Production

According to Zvi-Riklis, the genesis of the film was from a short story she wrote about memory while taking part in a writing workshop. She later developed it into a screenplay, with the help of Alma Ganihar. She said in an interview that while the story is not autobiographical, it does borrow from her life, such as the common story of families that were well-off in their native countries of Iraq or Egypt, arrived in Israel as second-class citizens, had their names changed, and their cultures erased. One of the main challenges the production faced was the casting: It was necessary to find three generations of related women, and Israel has a small cinematic community.[2]

Reception

In his Haaretz review, Uri Klein wrote that Three Mothers captivated him; he says that the plot is so thick, that the director is forced sometimes to use clichéd formulas to move it forward, but that the film's virtues far outweigh its weaknesses, especially in the extraordinary portrait of womanhood it paints.[3] Both he and Avner Shavit, writing in Ahbar Ha'Ir, agreed that earlier attempts in Israeli cinema to present family sagas and melodramas failed miserably, and Shavit wrote that Zvi-Riklis managed to create a "fascinating puzzle", impressive at "an international level". He found the plot lacking in authentic emotion, but also felt the positives overcome the negatives.[4]

References

  1. "שלוש אמהות". ספר הקולנוע הישראלי (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  2. נחום מוכיח. "הרמון משלהן - דינה צבי-ריקליס על "שלוש אמהות"". הבמה (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  3. אורי קליין (23 November 2006). "אלכסנדריה זה כאן". [[Haaretz[[ (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  4. אבנר שביט (21 November 2006). "האחיות טוויסטר" [Twisted Sisters]. Achbar Hair, republished in Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2 May 2019.
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