The Women’s Balcony

Israel, Feature Film, 2016, 96 min

“A rousing, good-hearted tale.” VARIETY

A close-knit Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem is split along gender lines when the women’s balcony collapses during a joyous bar mitzvah. Their new rabbi, an ultra-conservative named Rabbi David, tells the men that they have not instructed their wives to live modestly enough and the collapse was a warning from God, so the men sheepishly bring home scarves for their wives to wear on their heads. To make matters worse for the women, they discover that their beautiful balcony was not rebuilt, and that from now on, they would be confined to a stuffy side room. The women plot revenge.

Directed by Emil Ben-Shimon