Title: The Secrets

Director: Avi Nesher

Stars: Fanny Ardant, Ania Bukstein, Michal Shtamler, Adir Miller, Guri Alfi

Releasing Studio: Monterey Media

Release Date: n/a

Running Time: 120 minutes

Rating: R

Reviewed by: Miriam Cross (Toronto Correspondent)

You don’t need to be especially spiritual or have a deep understanding of orthodox Judaism to appreciate The Secrets. Judaism is integral to the plot, the setting, and the characters, but the story – a coming-of-age about two rebellious young women studying at a women’s seminary in northern Israel, their struggles to forge an identity in their repressive community, and the emotional and sexual awakening they undergo while helping a haunted foreigner seek redemption – is emotional without being manipulative, and critical of certain aspects of this type of community yet respectful of their traditions at the same time.

The film centers on two young students attending a seminary in Safed, a mystical town in northern Israel and the birthplace of Kabbalah. Naomi has recently lost her mother and dreads her upcoming wedding to her cold and dismissive fiancé. She also loves to learn, so to postpone her marriage and satiate her thirst for knowledge, she proposes a year of study at a seminary. Michelle is a more reluctant seminary student, sent from France by her parents, and initially clashes with the equally headstrong Naomi. The two girls are forced to bond when they are assigned the charitable task of delivering food to a mysterious French women, Anouk (Fanny Ardant), who lives next to their seminary and is crippled by terminal lung cancer. Her scandalous past involves an affair and possible murder, yet Michelle is intrigued by this tortured woman. When Anouk begs them to help her seek divine forgiveness before death, particularly for the sin of abandoning her children to follow her lover, the two delve into the mystical world of Kabbalah to construct a “tikun,” or a redemption process, to help her atone. At the same time, the girls struggle to assert their voices in a male-dominated atmosphere as they develop new interests, passions, and desires at odds with their repressive community.

It would be easy to critique the more controversial or austere aspects of orthodox society, but commendably, The Secrets refuses to ridicule ancient traditions and modern-day foibles, or reduce them to clichés. Instead, it shows the very real conflict between inner needs and fulfillment versus adherence to traditions and religious life – an adherence that the girls still value and see for its opportunities. Nevertheless, there are several pointed critiques: though the headmistress of the seminary is a strong proponent of women’s education, and has defied the local rabbinate to maintain a center devoted to women’s rabbinical studies, a clear purpose of the seminary – almost on par with education – is finding a husband. Naomi and Michelle’s roommate Sigi, the holier-than-thou “baalat teshuvah” of the seminary (one who has recently adopted a highly religious lifestyle), is emblematic of the type of person who, in an effort to ‘atone’ for the so-called sins of their previous lifestyle, discards basic respect and consideration for others in their zeal to embrace this new existence. And Naomi and Michelle must do much of their work in secret – it is forbidden for a woman to study Kabbalah, enter certain holy sites crucial to this redemption, or apply such practices to a non-Jew.

While the Kabbalah plotline sometimes verges on the ridiculous (is it religiously sound to extract elements of the redemptive process from four different “sins” and combine them to produce a wholly new “tikun”?), and the rituals they construct a little too eerie, the film provides a refreshingly authentic look at the intricacies of Kabbalah, rejecting its modern-day distortion as a pop-culture trend.

The two stars of the film, Ania Bukstein (Naomi) and Michal Shtamler (Michelle) are utterly compelling. Both are a curious mix of tradition and modernity – Naomi is engaged like a proper Orthodox girl, and Michelle scoffs at the thought of such a traditional union – but their deepening attachment to the other, and their growing self-awareness, complicates their initial assumptions. The film never uses the erotic aspect for shock or titillation – instead, this development feels like a natural part of their complex relationship, and defies any easy labels or categorization. Naomi, in particular, is a fascinating character to watch develop: despite her devotion to orthodox Judaism, she manages to reconcile her feelings and faith in a way that doesn’t cheapen either.

The peripheral characters are also complex, contradictory, and transcend easy definitions. Even though Anouk has killed her lover (she claims this was self-defense, not murder, and we’re inclined to believe her) and abandoned her children, we still sympathize with her tormented but vibrant character. Though her case is obviously an extreme, the idea of dying without achieving personal absolution for a momentous and punishing mistake taps into a primal human fear. Yanki, Michelle’s tentative suitor, is an unexpectedly wonderful character. Shy, bumbling, and awkwardly adorable, his appearances initially seem to constitute the film’s comic relief. Nevertheless, later developments show him to be one of the strongest, most mature, and most sensitive characters in the film, standing in stark contrast to most of the other male characters (who tend to be domineering or judgmental). A lone moment shared between him and a wretched Naomi towards the end of the film is lovely.

Near the end of the film, one character tells another that in music, “we learn to play the traditional way. But sometimes the untraditional way is the right one.” The film critiques the more hypocritical and repressive aspects of some traditions, especially in terms of gender, but by focalizing these critiques through its unique heroines – two devout and intelligent young women who respect and actively engage with their religion – the film shows the wonderful opportunities afforded by the religion. The film never preaches. Instead, it celebrates the positive and redemptive aspects of Judaism and rabbinical study while advocating an accepting, flexible, and sensitive worldview. Tradition shouldn’t be unreasonably adhered too, but neither should it be forgotten completely. The best one can do, it seems, is uphold his or her personal values while living a moral and truthful life, and without discriminating against gender, ethnicity, or religion.