Meet single-mother Tamar, aged While her two daughters sleep, she slips away to meet one of her many lovers, an insatiable woman who stirs up deep questions about human sexuality. It is being screened in the Critics' Week section of the festival, a closely followed showcase for budding auteurs. Time drags along, broken only by sexual encounters rarely preceded by conversation. Tamar's lovers are as varied as the places where their liaisons occur: the farmer behind the tractor, the bicycle repairman against a closed door, a man in the shadow against a wall.
Her life changes, however, when she falls in love with a kind, handsome veterinarian who becomes a father figure to her daughters. Nevertheless, she is ambivalent, wondering if she could truly be faithful to him. Sex in general "is something very ambiguous, and sexuality is something undefined because it's a very basic need," the film-maker added. It has a sense of Old Israel, the very nostalgic Israel which has a certain agenda.
Of the in-your-face title, Ben Asher is unapologetic: "I think I picked up on that title just because I wished to have the possibility of breaking the judgement behind what you might call a slut. Spearheading Israel's presence at Cannes this year is Joseph Cedar's "The Footnote", a tale of father-and-son rivalry that is in competition for the Palme d'Or, the festival's top honour. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. Want to discuss real-world problems, be involved in the most engaging discussions and hear from the journalists?
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