''Life According to Agfa'' ( he, החיים על פי אגפא) is a 1993 Israeli psychological-social drama film written and directed by
Assi Dayan
Assaf "Assi" Dayan ( he, אסף "אסי" דיין; 23 November 1945 – 1 May 2014) was an Israeli film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer.
Life
Dayan was the youngest son of Israeli general and defense minister Moshe Dayan and peace a ...
and produced by Rafi Bukai and Yoram Kislev. Starring
Gila Almagor
Gila Almagor Agmon ( he, גילה אלמגור אגמון; born Gila Alexandrowitz; July 22, 1939) is an Israeli actress, film star, and author. In Israel, she is known as "queen of the Israeli cinema and theatre".
Biography
Gila Alexandrowitz (A ...
,
, Irit Frank,
Shuli Rand
Shalom "Shuli" Rand (also spelled Shuly; he, שולי רנד; born 8 February 1962) is an Israeli film actor, writer, and singer. He is a Breslover Hasid and is best known in the English-speaking world for his role as the protagonist in ''Ush ...
, Sharon Alexander and Avital Dicker, the film revolves around one night in a small
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
pub whose employees and patrons represent a microcosm of Israeli society – men and women, Jews and Arabs, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews,
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
niks and city-dwellers.
The film mainly is criticizing the themes across the Israeli society, and, predicts a somewhat apocalyptic future for mankind and Israeli society. The film was selected as the Israeli entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
65th Academy Awards
The 65th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1992 in the United States and took place on March 29, 1993, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles begi ...
, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Plot
Dalia (Gila Almagor), an older woman in her late forties, who ends each night with guys she gathers for a casual sex. Dalia is at a large Tel Aviv pub called "Barbie", which is an abbreviation of the name of the "Abarbanel" mental institution. Samir (Akram Talawi) works in the pub. The pub opens in the early evening, as every day. Nimi (Sharon Alexander), a lieutenant colonel who was wounded in a parachute, arrives with his soldiers at the pub. The group of soldiers is loud and beastly. At the same time, Ricky (Avital Dicker), a depressed girl, arrives by chance after her psychiatrist advised her not to be left alone so that she would not expire on her own.
She is harassed by Nimmi and a group of his soldiers, who treat her sexually blatantly. Benny (Shuli Rand) the cop manages to keep the gang away from Ricky, and the two go out to his apartment, not before he cuts the tires of Nimi's car and his gang. After they have sex, Benny leaves Ricky in his apartment, and returns to the pub, where he draws the soldiers' attention to the puncture in their machine, but does not reveal to them that he himself is responsible for the puncture.
Nimi and his gang get upset, and directly suspect Samir, the Arab worker in the kitchen. When the soldiers open with violent acts made by Samir, Benny prevents the commotion and sends the group home in a taxi. Nimi instructs the driver to take the soldiers to the base. After the riot ends, Benny and his partner embark on an operation to capture drug dealers. When he returns his partner and roommate Liora (Irit Frank), a waitress in the pub, unaware of his betrayal, is angry at him for leaving the injured Ricky in his apartment alone, but he is more preoccupied with the fact that the operation he planned failed, and returns to his apartment, where he finds Ricky and a teacher let her vacate the apartment.
While Benny is taking a shower, Ricky commits suicide by jumping out of a window. Benny does not notice Ricky's body, and returns to the pub. Levy (Shmil Ben-Ari), Moshe (Uri Klausner) and Malka (Rivka Neumann), a violent and rude bunch arrive at the pub, and treat the pub people with contempt, and especially Samir.
A violent confrontation ensued between Levy and Samir, which ended, again, so that the groups were thrown out by Benny. Eli (Ezra Kafri), the married partner of the pub's manager, Dalia, arrives at the pub with his wife in order to say goodbye to Medalia, who remains in pain, and consoles herself with Ralph (Yoav Dekelbaum), a UN soldier who happened to have her. Liora Benny decides to comply with the ultimatum given to him by his commander and move to serve in the periphery.
Cast
*
Gila Almagor
Gila Almagor Agmon ( he, גילה אלמגור אגמון; born Gila Alexandrowitz; July 22, 1939) is an Israeli actress, film star, and author. In Israel, she is known as "queen of the Israeli cinema and theatre".
Biography
Gila Alexandrowitz (A ...
as Daliah
*
Akram Tillawi as Samir
*
Smadar Kilchinsky as Daniela
*
Sharon Alexander as Nimi
*
as Levi
*
Avital Dicker as Ricky
*
Irit Frank as Liora
*
Ezra Kafri as Eli
*
Dani Litani
Dani Litani ( he, דני ליטני; born June 30, 1943) is an Israeli musician, singer, actor and voice actor.
Biography Early life
Born in Haifa, Litani learned to play the piano at age six and at age nine, he and his family moved to Jerusalem ...
as Czerniak
*
Barak Negbi
Barak ( or ; he, בָּרָק; Tiberian Hebrew: '' Bārāq''; ar, البُراق ''al-Burāq'' "lightning") was a ruler of Ancient Israel. As military commander in the biblical Book of Judges, Barak, with Deborah, from the Tribe of Ephraim, ...
as Sammy
*
Rivka Neuman as Malka
*
Shuli Rand
Shalom "Shuli" Rand (also spelled Shuly; he, שולי רנד; born 8 February 1962) is an Israeli film actor, writer, and singer. He is a Breslover Hasid and is best known in the English-speaking world for his role as the protagonist in ''Ush ...
as Benny
Critical reception
''Life According to Agfa'' received near-unanimous critical acclaim, winning an
Ophir Award
The Ophir Awards ( he, פרס אופיר), colloquially known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. The award, named ...
for Best Film, and did moderately well at the box office.
[Judd Ne'eman, "Israeli Cinema," in O. Leaman, ed., ''Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film'' (Routledge, 2001), p. 268.] The film also received Honourable Mentions at the
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and
Berlin Film Festivals,
and was entered for the film festivals in Toronto, Montpellier, Calcutta and Singapore.
Dubbed by Judd Ne'eman a "stylized nightmare of self-annihilation",
it has since become one of Israeli cinema's most important films.
"''Agfa'' according to those who lived it"
''Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'' (23 December 2011) (retrieved 13 November 2012).
See also
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*
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Life According To Agfa
1993 films
1993 drama films
Israeli drama films
1990s Hebrew-language films
Films about the kibbutz
Films directed by Assi Dayan
Films set in Tel Aviv