Or

Dana Ivgy (daughter of the renowned Israeli actor Moshe Ivgy) headlines this powerful drama, which won the Camera d’Or at Cannes for director Keren Yedaya and earned Ivgy the Israeli Oscar for Best Actress. With sometimes graphic intimacy, Or takes us inside the private lives of working-class mother Ruthie (veteran actress Ronit Elkabetz) and her daughter Or, who barely get by in Tel Aviv. Or (whose name means "light" in Hebrew) tries desperately to convince her mother to stop working as a prostitute, but after 20 years in the business, Ruthie finds her options narrowing. She tries to get a cleaning job with a middle-class lady whose condescending attitude might turn even the most chaste woman to hooking. The film adeptly juxtaposes the mundane moments of a teenage girl--Or goes to high school, flirts with her neighbor Ido, washes dishes in a restaurant--with her poignant attempts to have a quiet family life with her dissipated single mom. Compelling and sad, Ivgy’s portrayal of an Israeli teenage girl down on her luck draws us stealthily into her hopes that her mother just might change. Ruthie, for her part, clearly loves Or, tenderly calling her "mon tresor" (my treasure), and clings to her dignity by denying her dependence on her daughter. Or is an achingly intense and hard-boiled look at intimacy between a mother and daughter, with top-notch performances by two of Israel’s most dynamic actors. Please note: this film contains sexual situations.