Directed, written and starring Michal Bat-Adam, this adaption of The Lover, a novel by A. B. Yehoshua, had been in development by Cannon for nearly a decade, with Boaz Davidson and Dan Wolman both attached to direct at one point or another.
The novel was a big deal because of the taboos it broke in Israel, telling the stories of a married woman and her lover, a married father and his daughter's friend, and the forbidden love between a Jewish girl and her Arabic lover.
Adam (Yehoram Gaon) and Asia (Bat-Adam) are a sexless married couple. She quickly falls into the bed of a tutor named Gavriel (Roberto Pollack), who agrees to help her if Adam fixes his grandmother's car. The young man disappears during the Yom Kippur War and Adam, his daughter Dafi and their co-worker Naim all try to find him, which ends up with Dafi and Naim falling in love and one of her schoolmates throwing herself at the older man.
The Lover was a media scandal in Israel, as all of the infidelity in the movie is presented as normal. Bat-Adam nearly gave up filmmaking, but the film was a success and today she is known as one of the queens of Israeli cinema.
The novel was a big deal because of the taboos it broke in Israel, telling the stories of a married woman and her lover, a married father and his daughter's friend, and the forbidden love between a Jewish girl and her Arabic lover.
Adam (Yehoram Gaon) and Asia (Bat-Adam) are a sexless married couple. She quickly falls into the bed of a tutor named Gavriel (Roberto Pollack), who agrees to help her if Adam fixes his grandmother's car. The young man disappears during the Yom Kippur War and Adam, his daughter Dafi and their co-worker Naim all try to find him, which ends up with Dafi and Naim falling in love and one of her schoolmates throwing herself at the older man.
The Lover was a media scandal in Israel, as all of the infidelity in the movie is presented as normal. Bat-Adam nearly gave up filmmaking, but the film was a success and today she is known as one of the queens of Israeli cinema.