Displaying items by tag: Sharon Strimban

THE PROPERTY

Israel, 2024, 110 minutes, Colour.

Rivka Michaeli, Sharon Strimban, Andrzej Seweryn, Piotr Pacek, Uri Hochman.

Directed by Dana Modan.

The property of the title is situated in Warsaw. It was owned before World War II by a Jewish couple – and, now, 64 years later, the daughter of the owners has returned to Poland.

Stories about the Holocaust are inexhaustible. However, while the Holocaust is significant in its repercussions on some of the central characters, this film deals with different memories. And, in comparison with other dramas, it takes the lighter touch, some comic moments, some melodramatic family conflicts, the screenplay gradually unfolding quite a complex scenario, and, perhaps, some tears for the audience at the end.

Regina Segal is an elderly widow, coming back to Poland which she left in 1939 as a pregnant young 15-year-old, now bringing her granddaughter with her, her son recently dying of cancer. Regina can be very cantankerous. Her granddaughter, Mika, is much tougher, having served in the Israeli army, sad at the loss of her father.

Many will be reminded of Jesse Eisenberg’s humorous/sad Oscar-winning film, A Real Pain, where two American cousins visit the Poland of their grandmother.

Each of the central characters, including a cousin, rather large and vociferous, Cantor for sacred ceremonies, is tracking down the property. Regina, of course, has a very personal interest and the film has opened with her and the father of her child rowing on a lake, speculating about what will happen to them. Mika is curious, realising that she would inherit the property. The cousin, on the other hand, has been pressurised to find it by his side of the family. So, each with their own agenda, and getting entangled.

But there is also a nicely sympathetic character, a young man who saves Mika from her over-eager cousin. He is a tour guide as well as a musician and an artist, bonding very quickly with Mika and anxious to help her in her quest (not without quite some emotional tangles).

The strongly emotional aspect of the film comes with the audience going with Regina to the apartment, now a restaurant, encountering the owner and his wife – and, ultimately, the revelation of a sad story of a pregnancy, of a young girl being sent to Israel, the war breaking out, her parents and the apartment, the young man and his involvement – now to be emotionally confronted and, hopefully, resolved, many decades later.

A quieter telling of a sad story whose direction is dramatically and emotionally affected and changed by the Nazi invasion of Poland.

1. The title, the focus on the property, originally, the ownership, the Nazi invasion, decisions is 1939, family, dispersed, themes of displacement, home, ownership?
2. Effective resetting, Israel, Poland, Warsaw, the sites of Warsaw, the streets, apartments and hotels, the restaurant? The musical score?
3. The opening, the lyrical tone Lake, the young couple, together – and the separation? The return to these sequences at the end of the film in the light of what actually happened?
4. Regina, her age, 64 years after the opening sequences? Israel, her marriage, the death of her husband, the recent death of her son, relationship with her daughter, the daughter strong-minded, serving in the Israeli army? The decision to go to Poland, defined the property, to settle the ownership? Regina’s ulterior motive to find her long-lasting love?
5. The comic touches, the serious touches? The film based on a graphic novel, images and dialogue, and the sister-directors and their family history?
6. Regina, in Poland, wanting to be there, not wanting to be there, retiring, with her daughter, with the cousin and his Mac nations, the daughter and the lawyer, the rites? The different family interests?
7. Mike, a relationship with her mother, her dead brother, accompanying her mother, discussions with the lawyer, the possibilities, her inheriting the property? The contrast with meeting the guide, college, his personality, music, accompanying Micah, the light romantic touch?
8. The cousin, his appearance, Cantor, his motivations, interactions with Regina and her daughter, his hands about the ownership?
9. Regina, going to the restaurant, her motivation coming, to see how long lost love, discovering him, the property, becoming a restaurant? His personality, after 64 years, his own marriage, life?
10. The emotional impact of the two meeting again, the memories of the said envelope, her pregnancy, a younger age, the interference of her parents, sending her away, marriage, Israel? His remaining?
11. The thing is coming to an end, Regina and her mission and it’s a compliment coral the issue of the property, the daughter, returning home?