Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane star in a comedy about a search for personal identity in the midst of a crisis of faith.
What happens if you’re a cantor and can’t sing anymore?
Making a living as a cantor for years, Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) has been unable to sing the liturgical music and lead the prayers in his synagogue for some time now. Everyone empathizes with him, however, including Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel), Ben’s mother, Meira (Caroline Aaron), and Meira’s wife, Judith (Dolly De Leon).
They are all very well aware that Ben is still grieving the loss of his wife, just a year before the film begins. Meira and Judith have even opened up their home to him, since he can’t bring himself to live in the house that he and the dearly departed shared.
Even so, his mother and her wife suggest that, well, maybe it’s time to move on? They attempt to help him with a little matchmaking with Gabby (Madeline Weinstein), the Rabbi’s daughter, which is awkward, to say the least.
Along comes Carla Kessler (Carol Kane), a somewhat older woman who has decided that she wishes to spend time preparing and studying for her Bat Mitzvah, which she never had the opportunity to do in her (much) younger years, and which was meant to be concluded before she turned 12. Now that she is retired from her job as a schoolteacher — where she first met Ben as an elementary school student many years before! — she decides that she wants to take her place in the Jewish community, and figures that the preparation and studying will reaffirm her faith.
Ben is not so sure that’s a good idea. For one thing, that’s not how it’s done! For another, Ben is not so sure that he wants to remain a Jew; his wife’s death started a crisis of faith for him.
Nonetheless, their teacher/student relationship begins. Initially, Ben is quite uncomfortable about the whole thing, but gradually warms to Carla’s personality. Simultaneously, Ben finally and begrudgingly makes an effort to get to know Gabby, more out of a sense of duty to his mother than anything else.
Eager to marry, Gabby is accommodating of Ben’s past grief and present indifferent reaction to her, but holds out hope that he will change his tune once he gets to know her better. As the two relationships develop, one begins to sprout to a degree that surprises everyone.
Between the Temples builds upon the reliable performances of Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane. It’s an unusual pairing, I suppose, and for that reason I kept thinking that it was aiming for awkward, if funny and endearing, territory that was staked out in Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude (1971).
Instead, the film is more about Ben’s difficulty in grieving his late wife. Her absence has profoundly changed him, to an extent that he has not yet acknowledged or even understood. Other people, even people who love him, see the time that has passed and figure that it’s time that he move on; just deal with it, in other words, buck up and put the past behind you.
The past has a tendency to cling, though, and to continue to affect you, even when you try to forget it entirely. Ben can’t even go back to the house where they lived together; how can he possibly connect emotionally with another person?
Ben needs more time to work things out. He needs help to do so. He’s not getting it from his mother, her wife, his rabbi, or his rabbi’s daughter. Or from his former schoolteacher.
Out of this sadness, writer C. Mason Wells and Nate Silver have constructed a comedy that is rueful and heavy-hearted. As directed by Nate Silver, some things that happen are (lightly) humorous, though much of the film plays like a broad comedy that is not terribly funny (to me).
Your mileage may vary, however, and you may find yourself laughing out loud. If so, enjoy!
The film is now playing in select area theaters. For more information about the film, visit the official site.
Dallas Film Now. 