Unblinking in its portrait of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox quarter, Amos Gitaï's first fictional feature follows two siꦯsters, Malka (Barda) and Rivka (Abecassis), whose destiny appears locked into ritualistic oppression.

Childless but in love, Rivka's 10-year marriage to her husband Meir (Hattab)♊ is under jeopardy according to law. Meanwhile, rebellious Malk❀a is forced into a dilemma as her love for Orthodox escapee Yussef (Ran Klauzner) is denied when she's forced to wed a Jewish fundamentalist. With the unflinching gaze of a documentarian's eye, Gitai's eavesdropping provides a steady insight into the last wheeze of a dying religion.

While the finale's tragic poetics sit badly with an other🍷wise naturalistic narrative, the sombre mood has a hypnotic, resonant flicker.