The Wedding Plan

First off: writer/director Rama Burshtein is an Orthodox Israeli woman. This informs her work an her point of view and it's so incredibly distinct from almost anything else I've ever seen. For example, while The Wedding Plan was marketed as a rom com (the title even is more generic than the original, more philosophical Through the Wall) and the movie does contain both romance and comedy, it is also an incredible introspective, philosophical, religious film.

The film is about Michal, an unmarried Haredi Jewish woman in her early thirties living in Jerusalem. Now in orthodox communities, being in your early 30s and unwed is highly unusual, especially since from around the age of 18 young men and women are set up by their parents and matchmakers on dates, which are actually rather chaste in nature and immediately get to the point of whether the couple involved have enough in common to marry. Michal has been "dating" for 10 years. She goes to a fortune teller of sorts and she discusses why she wants to marry, the type of companionship she's looking for etc. Shortly after we see her at the tasting for her wedding dinner... which quickly goes south as her fiancé abruptly confesses he doesn't love her. Michal quickly drops him, but faced with the idea of another decade of marriage she decides to force God's hand. She rents the hall, continues with dress fittings, and leaves it up to God to provide a groom for her.

Burshtein approaches the issues in the film with a beautiful honest sincerity. But for all that, the film has some flaws. I could not help comparing it unfavourably in appearance to her beautiful debut film, Fill the Void. I was also unsatisfied with how some of the characters in the film were presented. A certain twist is broadcast from a million miles away and the questions and answers that some of the dates bring are oddly unsatisfactory. Overall though the film is certainly worth viewing, especially because the perspective is so unique and it is approached with such love, compassion and knowledge.

The movie is very well done, but without a talent like Ms. Koler's, it would not be nearly as compelling, and compelling it is! It holds your interest from the opening scene to the last, and while some might consider it a chick flick, it certainly appealed to me.

What is love? What is marriage? Do faith and God fit in? Great questions, and while this movie may not answer them definitively, it certainly provides an entertaining way to ponder them.

The relationships she has with her women relatives and friends are uplifting...it's all good.

"Through the Wall" takes the form of a shaggy dog story. A woman sets herself a deadline for finding true love. Is this guy the one? Apparently not, but we're not sure. Time is running out. Is the next guy the one? Apparently not, but we're not sure. Time is running out. Is the next guy the one? And so on. The movie rests largely on the shoulders of the female lead, played by Noa Kooler, and she won Israel's annual Best Actress award. Simple though its structure is, the screenplay also won the best-of-year award. It has to do not only with finding Mister Right but with the question of whether it is nobler for a marriageable young woman (or, by implication, for anyone else) to hold onto the dream or to settle. If someone holds out, is that faith or is it arrogant self- centeredness? The same question, in fact, confronted the heroine of Rama Burstein's previous film, "Fill the Void," but this one has more comical exaggeration surrounding the protagonist while the lead actress herself, despite plentiful experience in comedy, plays it straight.

The movie centers around the decision of one Haredi (commonly called ultra-orthodox ) Israeli Jewish thirty-something woman's decision of if/when/whom to marry. She has been having trouble finding just the right person for herself, partly because of the men she has been meeting but partly because she is an unconventional woman in a number of ways. When her engagement is broken off , she has an unusual reaction which is the linchpin for the rest of the movie including an ending which may be surprising to some.

The movie was billed as a romantic comedy; there are indeed plenty of humorous moments, but I think it's real attraction is the issues it raises about the process of deciding to get married, what one is looking for and how it can be related to issues of faith. And although it involves the Haredi Jewish world, I think the insights and themes apply to other cultures as well , while at the same time the movie provides an entertaining window into the Haredi world.

The movie is very well directed and acted and went by quickly. Contraryto another review posted here, the audience I saw it clapped heartily at the end and lingered afterwards. Recommended.

Michal (Noa Koler) is single, Orthodox Jewish woman in her thirties and living in Jerusalem. Desperate in her desire to be married, she arranges a wedding with the intent that God will help her find a groom in time for the ceremony.

Indeed, the premise is odd but it might have worked if director/writer Rama Burshtein had taken the approach of a comical farce. As the comical moments are too few and a more serious approach is used, the film falls flat by the second half even though it's fairly enjoyable in the earlier segments.

Koler is certainly likeable in the role but her character is repeatedly and annoyingly self-defeating. After a while, I had a "Cher/Moonstruck" fantasy where I wanted to bring Cher's character into this movie and slap Michal hard in the face twice and shout "Snap out of it" and then disappear and go back to "Moonstruck". (I also had this fantasy while watching the excruciatingly long "Zodiac". In that scenario, Cher's slap victim would have been the Jake Gyllenhaal character.)

By the time the conclusion rolls around, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not it is plausible. The rest of the movie before it had already lost momentum. - dbamateurcritic.