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Song Of Songs (2005)

Director: Josh Appignanesi

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From Time Out London

Perhaps best described as ‘The Cement Garden’ transplanted to north London’s Orthodox Jewish community, Josh Appignanesi’s dark and claustrophobic debut feature is an ambitious and mysterious – if somewhat impenetrable – portrait of the relationship between a brother and a sister, David (Joel Chalfen) and Ruth (Natalie Press), whose lives are increasingly defined by their conflicting attitudes to their Jewish religion, their dying mother (Julia Swift) and their absent father.

Stony-faced and vulnerable, Ruth returns from religious education in Israel to look after her sick mother and to attempt to heal the rift between her mum and her brother who has turned his back on both religion and family. To the background of the dreary, semi-detached world of Hendon, Appignanesi spends time introducing and exploring his two damaged characters before finally enclosing them in the dank interior of their family home. As their demanding mother lies on her deathbed next door, so David and Ruth thrash out an odd relationship that’s tinged with hints of sado-masochistic violence and incest.

This low-budget film offers some powerful scenes, strong performances from Press and Chalfen, and some interesting characterisation; but the whole is ultimately quite hard to decipher. There’s a suggestion that religion can be corrupting; the film’s world is cold, dark and unfriendly, while a single flashback to the siblings’ childhood offers a quick vision of a luminous, bucolic past. Here, conflicts of religion lead to perversions of sex, violence and power. The cinematography evokes the behaviour of a stalker. Appignanesi is a talent to watch.

Author: DC

Time Out London Issue 1851: February 8-15 2006

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