''Aviva, My Love'' () is a 2006 Israeli drama film directed by
Shemi Zarhin. The film was regarded as a major Israeli success, attracting 300,000 viewers to cinemas.
The film won six
Ophir Awards, including Best Actress for
Asi Levi and Best Picture (which it shared with the film ''
Sweet Mud
''Sweet Mud'' () is a 2006 Israeli satirical drama film written and directed by Dror Shaul. The semi-autobiographical film was shot on the kibbutzim of Ruhama and Nir Eliyahu, and draws on Shaul's memories of growing up on a kibbutz with his ...
''). It also received two
Wolgin Awards, the
Chicago Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...
Award, and the Shanghai Film Festival Award.
Plot
Aviva Cohen (
Asi Levi) is a cook in a hotel in
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
, where her dream to be a writer has been suppressed for years. She draws ideas for her stories from her life. She carries a small notebook where at every opportunity she writes about small events that happen to her and she later weaves these events into her stories. With the help of her sister Anita (
Rotem Abuhav), who lives next door, Aviva goes to Oded Zer (
Shashon Gabai), a well-known writer who lives in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
, a writer who reads her works and promises to help Aviva achieve her dream. The path to achieving her dreams was influenced by Aviva's family life- her unemployed husband- Muni (
Dror Kern), three teenage children- Osherat (
Dana Ivegi), a soldier, Alon (
Itay Turgeman), and Ofek (
Dekel Eden), her troubled mother, Violet (
Lavna Finkelstein), and her sister Anita.
In her difficult financial situation, Oded Zer offers her a deal that she doesn't really understand its effects on her life. But at the same time the owner of the restaurant in the hotel also offers her to return to her job as a cook. However, her sister, Anita, intervenes in her life, until the point where Aviva accidentally witnesses Muni cheating on Aviva with her sister, which hurts Aviva deeply. Everybody around her worries about Anita, because she left her works with the writer, who is about to go abroad. Aviva must make decisions which is better for her: the money or the artistic work.
Production
Much of the film's plot was filmed in
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
, with its landscapes prominently featured in the movie. The film's premiere was planned to take place in Tiberias and did indeed occur there. However, since Tiberias was under the threat of rockets during the
Second Lebanon War at the scheduled time, the screening was held in a
shelter near director Zarhin's childhood home.
Film critic Yair Raveh commented on this:
"Isn't it perfect, in the film's own ironic cinematic language, that its Tiberian premiere, the most festive and glamorous moment of all, took place in a shelter, underground? It's, of course, tragic, but suddenly, as I write these lines, it feels like a poetic ending—a bittersweet one—that Aviva herself would have written."
Cast
*
Asi Levi – Aviva Cohen
* – Anita
*
Levana Finkelstein – Violette
* – Moni Cohen
*
Sasson Gabai – Oded Zar
Soundtrack
In March 2020 Helicon Music released the film's soundtrack,
which includes new remixes and tracks that were not included in the original release. The theme song "My Spring Shall Come" ("האביב שלי יגיע") was performed by
Miri Mesika, and it appears in two different versions.
The soundtrack features the following talents:
*
Limor Oved – Vocalization
*
Yankale Segal –
Oud
*
Nitzan Hen Razel – Violin
*
Oren Fried – Percussions
*
Jonathan Bar Giora – Piano and
keyboards
*
Shemi Zarhin –
Synth
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
qanun and voices
As the film was released in 2006 a special
mix was released to the radio, in which, in addition to the original players, also feature
Dudu Tassa
David "Dudu" Tassa (; born February 10, 1977) is an Israeli rock musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Besides having had a successful solo career in Israel, Tassa has been the leader of Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis which plays new rendi ...
on the guitar,
Yaniv Teichman Yaniv () is a Hebrew male name meaning "he will prosper". It may also refer to:
* Yaniv (card game), an Israeli card game with no established rules
Places
* Yaniv (village), south of Pripyat, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine
* Yaniv, Ukraine, former name of I ...
on the
Oud and the
Bağlama
The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Khazar, Central Asia including Germany, France, Belgium, TRNC, Netherlands, Albania, Greece,Bosnia, Serbia, Croat ...
,
Asher Pedi on the drums and
Uri Zach on the
keyboards.
References
External links
"Aviva, My Love" - The full film is available on VODo
the website for the Israel Film Archive - Jerusalem Cinematheque*
Original Soundtrack
2006 drama films
2006 films
Israeli drama films
2000s Hebrew-language films
{{Israel-film-stub