This film premiered at the 2009 Jerusalem Film Festival. The film tells the story of Bruria (Hadar Galron), an ultra-Orthodox (haredi) woman who works in a bookstore, is the mother of two and is married to a loving husband, a teacher in the haredi school system. Thirty years ago, Bruria's father wrote a book about her namesake, Bruria of Talmudic times, who was tested by her husband. That book was burned and her father was shunned as a result of having written it.
The original Bruriah and her husband Rabbi Meir lived in the 2nd century CE. Rabbis at the time declared that 'women are light-minded.' But Bruriah, a learned and intelligent woman, mocked them. To prove the rabbis' allegation, Rabbi Meir assigned one of his students to seduce his wife. Bruriah succumbed, and when she discovered that the seduction had been planned by her husband, she committed suicide.
Back to modern-day Jerusalem: Bruria's husband, Yaakov (Baruch Brener), is opposed to the quest, but the search for the book becomes a crusade for Bruria during which she confronts the compromises she has made in her life, her desires and her limitations.
Bruria struggles to learn about her father's book and about the difficulties in her own past. She rebels against her husband, who wants the past to be forgotten and is strongly against her searching for her father's book. Only at a later point does the viewer discover the reasons for Yaakov's objection.
This film addresses the husband's need to control his wife, test her, and the wife's need to investigate the limits of their ultra-Orthodox way of life. Meanwhile, Yaakov attempts to prove, as Rabbi Meir did, that women are 'light-minded.'
Director Avraham Kushnir wrote the screenplay in cooperation with lead actors Galron and Brener, both of whom are Orthodox.
Starring: Hadar Galron, Israel Sasha Damidov, Alon Abutbul, Baruch Brener
Directed by Avraham Kushnir