Little Jerusalem (2005) - full transcript

LITTLE JERUSALEM

"You don't think, you shiver."

Why did your teacher put that?

- I don't know.
- How does he know you shiver?

That music!

Turn it off!

Let them have some fun!

- We danced to that too.
- So?

They've got your wigs.

No, you mustn't touch my wigs!

Hashem will be angry
if you don't obey Mommy.



God's too abstract at their age.

For us, Hashem is a concrete concept.

But her ladyship
studies philosophy now!

Hashem says he'll punish you.
You hear?

He'll punish you.

Give me that wig!

- You want to do one?
- Here you go. Finish it.

No! What about your bracha?

Cheeky girl!

Where are you going?

I'm going for a walk.

I'll take a walk every evening at 7:00
from now on.

Hello.

- Is your sister back?
- Yes.



- Good morning.
- You haven't been to bed?

What is reason capable of?

What is reason incapable of?

For instance, concerning God:

it is impossible

to prove his existence speculatively,

yet impossible
to prove his nonexistence.

And so, God eludes philosophy.

Therefore, God eludes reason.

Laura!

- Hello.
- How are you?

I'm fine.

I have to go.

- Call me.
- All right.

Their toys piss me off!

Put them away.
I'm sick of it!

I'm always tidying up after you!

Laura, do you mind
if I vacuum your room later?

I forgot to tell you.

Eric called while you were out.

Eric?

The boy Mom introduced you to.

Oh, right.

What do I say if he calls back?

Nothing. Not a word, Mathilde!

Fine...

You're wasting your time.

You've been raised
in the truth of the Torah.

Why study these philosophers?

Their thought contains truth too.

You're wrong.

Philosophers are like archers.

They take aim and hit the bull's-eye.

But they pick the wrong target.

The right one is just next to it.

It's Hashem.

And we're trying to reach him.

- Laura? It's Eric.
- Eric?

- It's Eric.
- Hello.

Are you okay?

Yes, I'm fine.

I'm calling

because your mom said
you give philosophy lessons.

- That's right.
- Well, I'm interested.

When are you free?

I don't know. I'll have to think.

Why are you interested?
Aren't you doing medicine?

- I might specialize in psychiatry...
- Are you calling from a synagogue?

No. You know, me and synagogues...

- How much is a lesson?
- 20 euros.

- 20 euros. That's not cheap.
- What?

I mean, 20 euros, that's a lot.

- Are you crazy?
- No, it's just...

- You'll spoil everything.
- Stop it!

- Okay, I'll stop.
- Did I ask for your help?

- I'll call you back.
- I didn't mean...

I don't need your spells!

You do.
Look how you hung up on him!

Because he's stupid.

- He's handsome, a future doctor...
- I'm not interested!

You say that every time.
I was married in Tunisia at your age!

- Enough of Tunisia! Go back there!
- Racist!

Why is my daughter alone?

Even Suzanne's daughter has a husband

and my princess doesn't have one!

I don't want to be in love!

You can't live otherwise.
What'll you do in life without love?

Philosophy, Mother, philosophy!

Philosophy won't fulfill you!
Philosophy won't give you children!

- Eric really doesn't interest you?
- I'm not giving in to primary emotions!

The Torah says we must fight our urges

to rise up to Hashem.

Then we attain desire.

- But where does desire come from?
- From the divine spark.

When Ariel looks at you,
do you feel weird?

No, not at all.

- Good-bye, Laura.
- Good-bye.

- Have a good evening. Work hard.
- Good-bye.

Good-bye.

Sit down.

- Good Sabbath.
- Good Sabbath.

Come on, Mom!

The challah's good
but not as good as usual.

The bottom's cold.
Is it frozen or what?

I froze it. I made it myself.

That's why I'm laughing.

- What did you say?
- I made it and then froze it.

You haven't thawed it properly.

It's good but it's not thawed.

Look, the bottom's hard.

How did your day go?

Okay.

A computer broke down.

That's why I'm home late.

- No need to make excuses.
- Respect your husband.

Leave me be.

Am I in the way?

I can talk to him, can't I?

- What was that?
- I don't understand much Arabic.

He's choking.

He's going to choke on it!

Just look at him.

I wanted to tell you...

I've seen several ads

for a studio apartment in Paris.

I wondered if you could help
with the deposit?

It's 1,500 euros for three months.

That's a lot for us.

- We'll think about it.
- I can help.

I'll try to give lessons.

Eric asked her for lessons.

He did.

- What's that look for? It's true, he di...
- Cut it out.

I'm sorry, I have to go.

For some reason,
she takes a walk every evening at 7:00.

It's...

It's preying on her mind.

I don't understand.

Maybe you went through it
when you were younger... perhaps?

Yes, probably.

But I didn't go for walks
every night.

1,500 euros...

That's only the deposit!

But she isn't supposed to leave home.

She shouldn't leave
until she gets married.

In Algeria, a man couldn't get this close
to a strange woman.

- Are you Algerian?
- Yes.

What did you do there?

I was a journalist.

I wrote reports on village customs.

I had started a book too...

on the first Arab woman
to write Sufi poetry.

So you're a mystic...

You are too, aren't you?

See you tomorrow?

See you tomorrow.

However, in our postmodern world,

some philosophers observe
the decline of this idea of the law

as a condition of freedom.

What do you, the young philosophers
of the 21st century,

have to say about this equation?

Is freedom won by obeying the law

or by breaking it?

You.

To be free, we must break
the established law.

- You?
- Being free means living without laws.

And you?

One must obey the law.

We seem to have
a young Kantian girl this year.

Immanuel Kant applied this philosophy
of the Enlightenment

by observing, each day,
a law that he, himself, had established.

His life followed precise rituals
to the minute.

Who knows Kant's most famous ritual?

Come on, don't be shy.

You, there. The obedient one.

His walk.

Exactly. He took the same walk daily,

at the same time,
along the exact same path.

They say that Kant
only changed this path once,

during the French Revolution,
to go to meet the mail coach.

The famous path Kant walked

is known by the inhabitants
of Kingsburg

as "Philosopher's Way."

Behold the law

Given to us by Moses

Behold the law

Given to us by Moses

A legacy of Jacob's assembly

Are you all right, sir?

Aristophanes says
that lovers cannot explain their love.

He concludes that they feel
unconscious desire.

He explains his theory thus:

Humans were both male and female,
but Zeus split them as punishment.

Yes, like Adam and Eve.

No, that's not the same.

It's the very opposite.

For Plato, unity becomes duality.
In the Bible, it creates another unity.

Since Zeus cut men in two,
each is seeking his missing half.

That's beautiful.
Like seeking a soul mate.

Yes, it is beautiful.

But it's not true.

- It's not?
- It's a representation.

A fantasy of fusion.

But...

What?

I don't know.
It's beautiful...

It's poetic.
Why can't one leave it at that?

Look... That's different.

This idea is refutable, like others.

Let's move on to the Platonic
dialectics of desire. Write.

Plato admits desire in knowledge.
How can we live this paradox?

How can we leave the sensible world
for the intelligible one?

I don't know.

So, only ideas can make us happy.

Exactly.

But...

- Do you believe all that?
- What?

All that.

The world of ideas,
the love of philosophy...

We're not in the realm of belief.

This is the realm of thought.

Actually...

I thought you were just repeating
something you learned by heart

but didn't really believe.

Of course I believe it.

Personally,
I'd prefer Zeus' punishment.

Naturally. You're a romantic.

Why? Aren't you?

Passion is an illusion
entailing a loss of autonomy and freedom.

I won't be a slave to my senses.

I don't think I'm romantic.

When I fled Tunisia,

I brought it with me.

We weren't allowed jewels or money.

I had to smuggle it out.

Where did you hide the ring?

I hid it in my bra.

There was room.

That's true, there was.

You had a ring in your bra?

No one dares to stick a hand

in someone else's bra.

The policemen wouldn't touch it.

The Tunisians neither.

- Tunisian men are modest.
- What's "modest"?

What does modest mean?
It means... What does modest mean?

It means shy, embarrassed...

- They didn't dare.
- Why not?

They weren't going
to feel inside my bra!

Arab men are modest, they don't...

So, now Arab men are modest?

- Arab men are modest.
- It's not because...

Tunisians are like that.
They couldn't.

When I die,
this ring will be Laura's.

Mother...

For now, it still fits
on your fingers.

Go and play.
Go on.

Are you okay?

- Is it already 7:00?
- Yes.

Can I speak with you
for five minutes?

No, I'm sorry. I can't.

That's not very nice.

So come with me.

- The town's depressing.
- I know.

That's why I want to leave.

Focus on the Torah
and the world won't be so ugly.

- Who's that?
- I don't know.

- Can't he see what we are?
- Looking at you he will.

So that's why you asked me to come.

What did you want to talk about?

Your apartment.

We can't help you.

We're having money problems.
It's too much for us.

Besides, we cannot help you
to leave a religious home.

- I just want to live alone.
- Stop it.

We're not idiots.

We see you moving away
from Hashem.

It hurts us.

You respect nothing.

You left the Sabbath meal...

Only to take my walk.

I'm trying to get my body
under control.

Why do you want to do that?

Because.

Pray more and it will be all right.

- What's this?
- It's for me.

It's for me!

"I am your slave.
May I savor your beauty one day?"

- Who wrote this?
- Let me see.

It's the boy from the mosque.
It's okay, he's nice.

Sort this out by tomorrow.

That's not nice!
That's a gift for me!

Mathilde...

What are you doing?

What's the matter?

It's Ariel...

What's wrong?

He's seeing another woman.

What?

I had my suspicions.

I found a blonde hair on his suit.

That's impossible. He's so devout.

Are you sure?

Yes, I asked him and he told me.

Don't tell Mom, okay?

What are you going to do?

I'm going...

to go and see the rabbi.

I'll ask for a divorce.

We could compare
these Kantian rituals to ramparts,

like those of a besieged city.

Who was besieged?

Kant himself,

by the voracity of his urges.

By his demons.

That's why he built up that wall,
those ramparts...

to protect himself
from his own personality.

Perhaps also from his madness.

These rituals
were a sort of straightjacket

that he would heroically put on...

to devote himself entirely to thought.

True, Kant had a taste for celibacy
equal to his love of thought.

That is why

it was no accident
that he stayed single all his life.

Any questions?

No questions?

Take a walk!

I can't.
Excuse me.

Come...

Forgive me.

"The religious law...

in which I have been raised..."

- Here, for you.
- Thanks.

What's that letter?

It's for the boy at the mosque.

Never give him your writing!
He'll cast a spell on you!

Cut it out, Mother.

Never give your writing
or your photo to anyone.

- I know those people.
- Stop it, Mom.

I know about this
and you mustn't do that.

I'm trying to protect you.

Don't give your writing
or your photo to anyone.

- I know what I'm talking about.
- All right, let me work.

- Laura.
- Yes?

After that synagogue attack,
you should stop taking walks.

I can't do that.

He's right.
It gets dark by 7:00 now.

- She can go in the morning.
- She has to stop.

- It's important for her.
- Stop contradicting me!

I'll do what I want.
You're not my father.

Apologize.

Go and apologize.

How could you do it to her?

I did it because I respect her.

I won't ask her to do things
only I like, you see?

You could have resisted.

What do you know about life?

Men have willpower, right?

It's animals that have no control.

That's what you've always taught me.

That's what the Torah says.

Yes, I know.

That's what the Torah says.

- Stop taking my sleeping pills.
- I can't get to sleep.

- They're bad for you.
- So why do you take them?

A doctor gives them to me.

Here.

Why does Hashem send us desires
he disapproves of?

To test us.

Do you think Ariel's desire for
another woman was to test you?

The mikvah woman
wants to give me advice.

Advice about what?

Things... women need to do
to their husbands

to keep them from straying.

I'd like to come with you.

- What for?
- Just to keep you company.

You're really odd.

I hardly know you these days.

Is it because of that boy?

Mom's right. He's bewitched you.

You're totally different.

You've stopped taking your walk.

You don't study your philosophy.

Be careful.

Protect yourself from him.

I know.

Go to bed.

Can we talk about
your intimate moments?

They're normal.

I don't do things that the Torah bans.

Such as?

Want me to wait outside?

Such as?

No, you can stay.

I'll teach you to pleasure your husband
while respecting the Torah.

You know you can be intimate
in many ways?

Yes, I know.

So?

I'm afraid of losing my modesty...

and of not respecting
the commandments.

And of...

And of moving towards
my soul's evil inclination.

Aren't some things forbidden?

Where does the Torah say they are?

I was told.

Don't listen to others.

It is written that,
"If the evil inclination didn't exist,

no man would build a house,
take a wife or have children."

But it also says,

"If the law is respected during intimacy,
the divine is present."

Believe me,
pleasure is authorized by Jewish law

and doesn't repel the divine.

On the contrary, it's revered.

A devout woman
must just keep her modesty,

but modesty
doesn't exclude pleasure.

If your husband takes the initiative,
you retain your modesty.

Do you understand?

Yes, I understand but...

Any other questions?

I wanted to ask something.

Can love come
from the other side of the sitra ashra?

No, true love never comes from evil.

It comes from Hashem.

May a woman touch
her husband's private parts?

But of course.

But...

She can't!

They also say...

I don't understand.
They say that man's seed

cannot be spilled in vain.

You mean, more precisely,

his seed must not be used
outside of procreation.

- Right.
- Yes, that's it.

That's right. But you can touch
your husband's private parts

and stay within Jewish law.

Just don't allow
his pleasure to climax.

Then just do as usual.

All right?

Off you go, go home now.
Hurry!

- You saw the woman at the mikvah?
- Yes.

And?

She told me things.

Do those things suit you?

Perhaps.

What's wrong?

I don't feel well.

Djamel...

Chana...

I'm going home.

Esther.

My daughter says she feels odd
when he looks at her.

Put this under her bed
to protect her.

- What is it?
- A talisman.

You were waiting for me?

I feel like I'm vanishing.

Am I moving towards good
or towards evil?

Have you crossed
to the other side of death?

Yes.

What's it like on the other side?

Mickael, run!

Are you okay?

He works at the school with me.

Excuse me.

- Is your brother-in-law better?
- Not really.

Want to come to my uncle's on Friday?
He'll be out.

Why did you leave
when the police came?

- Forget it.
- Why?

Because.

- Tell me.
- Enough!

- If you go, I'll leave you!
- You'll leave me?

I don't have my papers yet.

I have to hide.

All right.

You understand?

Of course.

Forgive me.

- I'll meet you after work.
- There's no need.

Laura, it's too dangerous
to be out alone.

I don't walk home alone anymore.

I'm not alone anymore.

Okay...

You know, we're always alone.

Okay, I'm going.

I tried to do what you told me.

But I don't know...

I'm unable to take such liberties.

They're not liberties.
It's our law.

But I can't feel desire within me.

You're saying you've
no desire for our law?

- I do feel desire for our law.
- What are you waiting for?

Let yourself go.

How does it get better?
What did you do?

- On a practical level.
- On a practical level,

having children helped
bring us together.

Children can drive you apart too.

Having children brought us closer.

Life wasn't the same.

It was different in Tunisia,
it was easier...

This photo... How old were you
when this was taken?

That's in Tunisia, at La Goulette.

I was 23.

You were so beautiful.

What was it like in bed with him?

It was okay.
It was all new to me.

Were you shy? Did it scare you?

Of course. I didn't know anything.

No one had told me about it.

It was taboo.
No one ever spoke about it.

So he's the one who showed you.

Yes, he led the way.

And you just followed?

It was all new to me...

Did you like it?

Why...

Did you like doing things for him
or did you...

Did you like doing things?

- You're always asking questions.
- What?

It's normal that I'd want to know.

I want my husband to stay.

He's not going to leave.

Were you modest and shy?

- Or not?
- Yes, I was quite shy.

I was young.

Are you still shy after 20 years?

A little, yes.

Why is that?

It's just the way it is.

And now?

Now...

Your father is dead so, you know...

I have my children and grandchildren.

Thank you.

- Do you speak Arabic?
- Very little.

But my family is from Tunisia.

Which family are you from?

- What's your name?
- Laura.

That isn't an Arab name.

Where were you born in Tunisia?

She was born in Djerba.

Near the synagogue.

I don't understand you.

Why this girl?

There are plenty of girls here.

She's the one I like.

The others are pretty too.

- Why this one?
- Because she's unique.

- You want to live here with her?
- Yes.

She'll have to convert.

You know what I think of religion.

In Algeria, you wrote enough rubbish
in the papers.

You're in France now, in my home.

You'll do as I say.

What's the matter?

I'll take you home.

I can't...

I won't impose my religion on you.

I'm all alone in this country.

You're not alone. You're with me.

That's not enough.
We can't afford to live alone.

I can't leave my relatives.

I'm alone. All alone!

Why?

Mathilde, call a doctor!

Is Laura better?

A little better, yes.

She just got out of the hospital.

You know, Mathilde,

you really ought to move.

A hair...

Michel, come and sit down.

Sit down there.

Please.

I've reached a decision.

What decision?

We're leaving for Israel.

All right.

- Are you pleased?
- Yes.

It'll be good to have a house.

It's bound to be better than here.

When do you want us to go?

We can go this summer.

I don't want to go with you.

- Don't throw Lego!
- Mom...

What can I do with this?

Make a bedroom.
Show me the bedroom you'd like.

What?

Make a bedroom.
Give her the little one.

You wanted the blue one earlier?

Is this the house we'll have in Israel?

Where will your room be?
Show me.

On the ground floor?

Where will your room be Mickael?

- On the fourth floor.
- The fourth floor?

Show me where. Show me.

One, two, three, four...

A helicopter's bombing it.

Why is a helicopter bombing the house?

That's going to jinx us.

It's broken the house.

Come here, Michel.

Stay here.
You've destroyed the house.

We don't have a house anymore!

Here, take my ring.

Use it to stay in France
and rent an apartment.

You're going with them?

Yes.

I'll miss you.

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