by MATTHEW HAYS

With her third film project, filmmaker Karin Albou captures the hushed, quiet, intimate moments of several Orthodox Jews living in Paris. La Pétite Jerusalem is shot gorgeously, showing us the private torment of two sisters caught between a modern, multicultural city and the strict confines of their traditional faith.

It’s no shocker that Albou comes from this background, for her capturing of a North African group of Jewish immigrants living in Paris is so nuanced and delicate that it feels entirely accurate. Laura (played magnificently by Fanny Valette) is a philosophy student, finding herself caught up in the theories of Kant, opting for celibacy. Her older sister, Mathilde (Elsa Zylberstein), is rigidly observant, married to a strictly Orthodox man. The apartment they co-exist in provides them shelter, but things get murky when the sisters’ views of the world are challenged.

Laura finds herself incredibly attracted to an Arab intellectual (they both do night shifts as janitors). Her brother-in-law (Mathilde’s husband) is horrified by the prospects of her being attached to an Arab lad. But brother-in-law has secrets of his own, as Mathilde learns that he’s been sleeping around. This leads Mathilde to have a breakdown, trying desperately to figure out what’s wrong with her marriage and why her husband would stray to find pleasure elsewhere. With this sister’s story, Albou paints Mathilde as a hapless naïf, a woman who must be counselled that it’s okay to pleasure your hubby and that touching his genitals is not going against the Torah.

La Petite Jerusalem has a great deal going for it. Albou brings such fresh authenticity to a community that is so often shrouded in secrecy. And her performances are some of the best I’ve seen in recent indie films. If there is a flaw, however, it would be the film’s excruciatingly slow pace. I’m no Mission: Impossible fan, but honest to Yahweh, at times I was tempted to press the fast-forward button on this one, despite all its strong points.

La PÉtite Jerusalem opens Friday, March 24

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