Israeli cinema קולנוע (kohl-noh-ah) as a whole, revolves around recurring themes: war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, intergenerational relationships within the nuclear family (fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, siblings) and the tension between religious conservatism and secular liberalism. Thankfully, the movie The Wedding Plan (in Hebrew, לעבור את הקיר, meaning ‘through the wall’) doesn’t really fall into any of these categories. The movie סרט (seh-reht) doesn’t even conform to a specific genre, it is classified as a romantic comedy but can just as easily be a drama. Its plot line עלילה (ah-lee-lah) is surprising and original, with a thought provoking ending.
Michal is an unwed Hasidic Jewish woman in her early thirties who wishes to get married להתחתן (leh-heet-chah-tehn) more than anything else in the world. She is a Ba’alat Teshuvah (חוזרת בתשובה), meaning she was born to a secular family but later (in her twenties) became an Orthodox Jew. In the first scene of the movie, Michal arrives at a matchmaker’s house and is asked many private questions about her deepest desires and reasons for wanting to get married. At the end of this intense encounter מפגש (meef-gahsh), she promises Michal that she will soon get married, and mentions that her son Shimi (seen briefly earlier as he drops off something at his mother’s house) owns a wedding hall in Jerusalem, and could easily offer her a nice discount הנחה (hah-nah-chah).
Fast forward a couple of months later, Michal is sitting at Shimi’s wedding hall with her fiancé ארוס (ah-roos) Gidi for the tasting meal for their wedding. The atmosphere is tense, and before they even get a chance to enjoy the ample food, Gidi confesses that he doesn’t love her. Broken and shattered, Michal returns to her flat where her best friend, roommate, and sister await to comfort her. She mourns the loss of her engagement, but even more so, she is appalled by the idea that she would have to go through the exhausting search for a husband בעל (bah-ahl) again. She returns to Shimi’s wedding hall, and since the date is already set — the last day of Hanukkah — she tells him that she wants to go through with the wedding. Within the 22 remaining days, God will send her a husband.
Without giving away too many spoilers (at least not more than I’ve already given), this movie is a must-watch because it is unapologetic and unique. Although it was released in 2016, it’s about a woman who puts her complete and utter faith אמונה (eh-moo-nah) in a higher power and wants to believe in her own happy ending. Of course, she has her moments of fear פחד (pah-chahd) and doubt — she is not detached from reality, at least not in the clinical sense — but she doubles down on her belief that God is the embodiment of good in the world, and if that’s true, she will get married. Despite her mother’s sorrow, her neighbors’ criticism ביקורת (bee-koh-reht) and the pity that potential husbands feel towards her once they discover her plan, she continues to move forward.
The context of the plot is religious, no doubt, but in a larger sense this is a movie about choice בחירה (bchee-rah). What is the role of unconditional faith in our lives? Do we really get to choose what will happen to us, or is there a greater force at hand — chance or fate, however you perceive it. Michal, played by the incredibly talented Noa Koler, is a flawed but fierce woman who tries to challenge the norms of society חברה (chehv-rah), similar to other tragic figures in Greek mythology. Love her or loathe her, you’ll want to see how this journey ends.
