At the outset of this film we find Saleem, a Palestinian delivery man for a bakery (Adeeb Safadi)), having an affair with Sarah, an Israeli café owner (Sivane Kretchner), by hooking up with her in the back of his van at night. If it seems they're playing with fire, they are, and things quickly get more complicated when the man has bogus charges filed against him in Bethlehem that implicate her, and we find out that her husband (Ishai Golan) is a rising star in the Israeli military.
The emotional impact of the adultery is felt because director Muayad Alayan takes the time to develop the stories of both of these character's families, something I liked about the film. Saleem has a pregnant wife named Bisan (Maisa Abd Elhadi), and in addition to her husband, Sarah has a young daughter. There is a significant class difference here as well - Saleem and Bisan struggle to pay the bills, thus he takes on shady delivery work for her brother, and Sarah and her family live in affluence, with her shielded from the knowledge of her husband's covert operations against Palestinians.
Adultery is inherently deceptive, but because of the other factors, there are layers of deception here, each with its own peril, and every time there is an attempt to bury what's happened, it never quite stays buried. Oh what a tangled web we weave, particularly when we're in Tel Aviv. (Ok, they're actually in Jerusalem, but I couldn't resist the attempt). Anyway, a Palestinian lawyer tries to stifle things by getting Saleem to file a false statement to explain the Bethlehem incident, and Sarah's husband tries to stifle things by getting her to file a false statement about what Saleem did with her. I liked how these echoed the original lie behind the affair, and how the consequences magnified.
Meanwhile, there are those seeking the truth, led by Bisan, who begins piecing things together, and Saleem's lawyer. Much scarier, and so well cast, is the Mossad agent (Jan Kühne) who methodically begins turning up to ask questions with pinpoint accuracy.
There is a feminist slant to the film, and I loved it when Bisan, who is also a university student, stood up to her brother and later her husband. Maisa Abd Elhadi's performance is wonderful. Saleem's lawyer is a strong female character as well, and then you have Sarah, guilty of cheating but in whom we empathize at least a little, since her husband is so preoccupied with his career and doesn't mind hurting people when he's angry (e.g. During sex with Sarah when he knows what she's done, or during an interrogation scene with Saleem).
It felt like the husband's character may have been a little overdrawn though, and it was a little hard to believe that Bisan and Sarah would ultimately exchange such pleasantries about her baby. The film feels realistic in a lot of ways, including how naturally Jerusalem itself is shot, but makes a few missteps, and it probably should have been a little shorter as well. Overall though, this is a solid story, full of tension, and with fine performances from the cast.
