Eyes Wide Open

Dir. Haim Tabakman. Israel-France-Germany, 2009. 90 min.

Eyes Wide Open hits the ground running, quickly setting up its premise in a story that’s small in scale but big in heartache.

The film begins with young, homeless Ezri (played by Israeli heartthrob, Ran Danker) turning up on the doorstep of married family man Aaron’s butcher shop. Ezri has arrived in this ultra-Orthodox Jewish community on the pretence of studying religious texts at the local Yeshiva college, but he’s really trying to contact a friend, whom we are to assume is a former gay lover.

After some initial reluctance the older butcher takes pity on the young student and offers him work as an apprentice in his shop and lodging above it. As the two men begin to work together we realise that Aaron’s motives aren’t as altruistic as we first thought and he has offered a hand to Ezri for a very personal reason.

As Aaron and his apprentice spend more and more time together and their work life spills into their personal life, it’s easy to see the appeal of young, carefree Ezri to the older man. Aaron, on the other hand, is deep-thinking, slightly awkward and often harsh – it takes longer to see his appeal, but Ezri surely does.

Aaron eventually reveals to Ezri that he’s long had gay feelings. We don’t find out if he’s ever acted upon them before now, which adds to the complexity of his character. At first he believes he can resist the temptation of alluring Ezri, but as their sexual chemistry turns into something more loving, Aaron’s religious beliefs are tested to breaking point.

Setting the simmering attraction against the backdrop of a butcher shop works brilliantly, the bloody meat, low-humming electrical sounds and sweaty heat reflecting their physical lust and heightening the sexual tension, culminating in a very sexy scene in a cold storage room!

While this is all going on at work, Aaron’s homelife is falling apart. His wife Rivka, just like the rest of their close-nit, Orthodox community, isn’t impressed with Aaron’s attention and interest in the young man who’s past is catching up with him; rumours spreading that paint him as some kind of ‘devil in disguise’.

The suspecting, but unquestioning wife of a closeted gay man is becoming something of a movie cliché, but the part is played well and there’s a nice scene in Aaron’s shop where Rivka plays a subtle game of ‘cat and mouse’ with Ezri. Rivka instinctively knows what’s going on, but is scared of the consequences if she challenges Aaron, instead trying to win him back, misguidedly, with some added spice in the bedroom.

Zohar Strauss gives an exceptional performance as Aaron, making him sympathetic and pathetic at the same time. He shows us a man torn between the rigid beliefs of his community and the self-accepting nature of Ezri, mirroring the debate this movie encourages. Ran Danker’s character is more throw-away and the events unfolding in Aaron’s world seem to, for the most part, pass him by.

This isn’t presented as a black-and-white love story and at times I wasn’t sure if first-time director Haim Tabakman is rooting for his gay protagonists or not. He does handle the themes sensitively, while at the same time exposing the blind homophobia that is rampant throughout the community – one of the most powerful scenes has the local Rabbi intervening and showing a kinder approach when a pack of extremist student thugs confront Aaron about his relationship with Ezri.

Eyes Wide Open certainly presents a unique twist on the classic tale of love breaking the rules and I enjoyed immersing myself in a brilliantly evoked culture and a touching story.

(Eyes Wide Open in UK cinemas from Friday, 14th May).