Nearly the entire film takes place in a religious courtroom, which is filled with drama as Viviane’s attempt to get a divorce drags on for years in session after session. In order to be free to marry again, she needs a gett, a document granting release from her husband, who thus is in control in Viviane’s case, although they have had a lousy, lengthy marriage. Elisha, her husband, played with the requisite proud stubbornness by Simon Abkarian, resists all pressure to let her go. Although it is clear that they can never resolve their differences, he persists in standing in the way of her getting the gett that she needs in order to move on with her life.

Menashe Noy portrays Carmel, her ultra-committed lawyer, who persistently tries to convince the three-rabbi court to set his client free. Elisha’s brother Shimon (Sasson Gabay) acts as his lawyer and is deviously clever as he maneuvers against his sister-in-law. Eli Gorstein plays the chief judge, who loses patience as he declares postponement after postponement as the case drags on with assorted witnesses.

What becomes painfully clear is that in this set-up a woman who wants a divorce is looked upon with disdain. Viviane has been a good mother to her children, and she has attempted to follow the duties expected of an orthodox wife, but she simply cannot abide her husband, and it is apparent that their sex life has become non-existent.

By its meticulous detailing of the situation the film comes across as a plea for the emancipation of women subjugated to fundamentalist dogma enshrined in such orthodoxy. No wonder, as I have read, that travel packages are sold in Israel for trips to Cyprus for civil marriage ceremonies.