For several years now, Ben has been a choirmaster at the local synagogue. However, following the sudden death of his wife, not only has Ben lost his voice, but also his faith. Back with his two mothers, the forty-year-old sinks into depression. But then an unexpected reunion with Carla, his former high school singing teacher, forces him out of his torpor. Also a widow, Carla wants Ben to prepare her for her belated bat mitzvah, which she would have liked to celebrate but was unable to at age 13. Different in age and temperament, Ben and Carla will nonetheless form a deep bond in the dramatic comedy Between the Templesunveiled at Sundance earlier this year.
Perhaps the phrase “soul mates” is the best one to describe the two protagonists of this eccentric and moving film co-written and directed by Nathan Silver. Yes, Between the Temples immediately recalls Harold and Maude (Harold and Maude), but in a superficial way: Silver’s film develops its own identity, sharing neither the formal stylization nor the satirical charge of Hal Ashby’s masterpiece.
Shot in upstate New York on 16mm film on a shoestring budget (like Silver’s previous films), Between the Temples exudes a gritty realism and a wintery atmosphere that passes: the human warmth that is born between Ben and Carla seems all the more precious.
The direction is very nervous, on purpose, and always in the proximity of the characters. In several scenes, the camera moves without cutting from one face to another, in close-up, destabilizing us a little, and thus making us share what Ben and Carla feel, who themselves seem to have a hard time rationalizing what is happening to them.
Their relationship begins as a very improbable friendship between two lonely people, and evolves into a kind of half-hearted complicity… She taught him, now it’s his turn, but during the story, the roles of teacher and student are constantly reversed.
Throughout, there is a constant, willingly offbeat humor, in tune with characters who come to embrace their marginality. A marginality that the relationship between Ben and Carla, and especially the reaction of their loved ones towards it, will reinforce.
In this regard, the sequence of the meal at the restaurant, where Carla’s psychologist son is incredibly paternalistic with his mother while displaying incredible immaturity, is by turns distressing and hilarious. The balance between the drama that is both light and poignant and the comedy that oscillates between bittersweet and farce is remarkable. It is representative of the ambient tone.
Another example: this moment when, after having confided in him, Carla asks Ben to repeat it to her, in order to make sure that he really listened to her. It is at first funny and unexpected, then really touching.
Great performances
That said, not everything works so well. That bit where Ben hallucinates after drinking magic mushroom tea drags on and then falls flat.
But, but, but… Even when the story goes astray, the superb performances by Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane keep the interest going.
Subscribed to Wes Anderson’s theme songs since Rushmorethe first finds the right note between self-pity and renewed joy of living. The second, revealed in the remarkable Hester Streetby Joan Micklin Silver, then in the terrifying When a Stranger Calls (Terror on the linewhere she was the caretaker who is told that “the call is coming from inside the house”), by Fred Walton, is wonderful as a woman determined to make an old dream come true. A beautiful, unique little film to savor.