Footnote (film)
Footnote | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joseph Cedar |
Written by | Joseph Cedar |
Produced by | David Mandil Moshe Edery Leon Edery |
Starring | Shlomo Bar Aba Lior Ashkenazi |
Cinematography | Yaron Scharf |
Edited by | Einat Glaser Zarhin |
Music by | Amit Poznansky |
Production companies | United King Films Movie Plus |
Distributed by | United King Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | Israel |
Language | Hebrew |
Box office | $2 million[1] |
Footnote (
The film won the
Plot
Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo Bar Aba) is a philologist who researches the textual tradition of the Jerusalem Talmud. He and his son Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi) are both professors at the Talmudic Research department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Uriel, a charismatic academic, is extremely popular with the department's students and the general public, and is also recognized by the establishment when he is elected a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
The father, on the other hand, is a stubborn old-school purist in his research methods. He is unpopular, unrecognized, and frustrated by his would-be lifetime research achievement having gone unfulfilled, as a rival scholar, Prof. Yehuda Grossman (Micah Lewensohn), published similar results one month ahead of Eliezer. Eliezer is also highly critical of the new methods of research used by his son and other modern researchers, as he considers them superficial.
His ambition is to be recognized by being awarded the Israel Prize, but he is disappointed every year when he does not win it. His nature and the lack of recognition have made him bitter, anti-social, and envious of his son's popularity. Eliezer receives a phone call from the office of the Minister of Education, and is told that he has been elected this year's laureate of the Israel Prize.
The following day, Uriel is summoned to an urgent meeting with the Israel Prize committee. Uriel is told that an error had occurred and that in fact it was he, not his father, who was awarded the Israel Prize. The committee wishes to discuss ways to correct the error, but Uriel objects, saying the revelation would devastate his father. Uriel and the head of the committee, Grossman, argue over the issue until Uriel loses his temper and shoves Grossman. Regretting his outburst, Uriel relents and asks that the committee permit him to break the news to his father personally.
During the meeting, Uriel says he has been submitting his father's name for the Israel Prize every year, and accuses Grossman of blocking that and other ways of recognizing Eliezer. According to Grossman, Eliezer never published anything significant in his career, and his only claim to fame is being mentioned as a footnote in the work of a more famous scholar.
Uriel goes to the National Library to break the news to his father but finds him raising a toast to winning the prize with colleagues. Unable to break the news, he once again meets with Grossman, asking that the prize be given to Eliezer. Grossman relents but with two conditions: Uriel must write the committee's recommendation, and Uriel can never be a candidate for the prize. Uriel is evidently shocked by the second condition, but ultimately agrees.
Uriel writes the recommendation text, picking and choosing every word carefully; at the same time, Eliezer, finally recognized, is interviewed by the newspaper Haaretz, during which he impugns the scientific and academic validity of Uriel's research. When the interview is published, Uriel is angry but keeps his secret. Later, though, he whispers the secret to his mother. She does not disclose the truth to anyone else.
During preparations for a television interview, Eliezer is struck by an uncommon Talmudic expression in the Israel Prize committee's recommendation. He flees the television studio and returns to his study. He examines the expression, cross-checking its published uses, and realizes that the text must have actually been written by Uriel. Eliezer also reconstructs his phone conversation with the Minister of Education, realizing she had addressed him by his last name only. He concludes that the minister thought she was talking to his son when she broke the news about the Israel Prize.
On the day of the prize ceremony, Eliezer and his wife arrive at the Jerusalem International Convention Center to prepare for the ceremony; Eliezer is stressed and distracted. The movie ends a moment before the laureates are called to the stage.
Cast
- Shlomo Bar Aba as Eliezer Shkolnik
- Lior Ashkenazi as Uriel Shkolnik
- Alisa Rosen as Yehudit Shkolnik, Eliezer's wife and Uriel's mother
- Alma Zack as Dikla Shkolnik, Uriel's wife
- Daniel Markovich as Josh Shkolnik, Uriel's son
- Micah Lewensohn as Yehuda Grossman
- Yuval Scharf as Noa the reporter
- Nevo Kimchi as Yair Fingerhut
- Yona Elian as Yuli Tamir, Minister of Education (voice)
Production
Director
The film marked the return to cinema after 20 years for Shlomo Bar Aba, a stage comedian, in the role of the father. Bar Aba prepared his character for six months. Lior Ashkenazi, who was raised in a secular home, took Talmud classes at the Hebrew University and let his beard grow for eight months.[8]
Release
Footnote premiered in competition at the
Box office
As of 8 July 2012, the film has grossed $2,007,451, in North America.[1]
Critical reception
The film received high critical acclaim. At Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 90%, based on 89 reviews and an average rating of 7.63/10.[12] It also has a score of 83 on Metacritic, based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[13]
Hannah Brown of This Israeli film takes what might have been a trivial anecdote — a committee accidentally awards a prize to the wrong scholar — and turns it into a tragicomic opera with a great deal to say about Zionism, academia, family life and the way language functions as a bridge between the sacred and the profane.[16]
Remake
Footnote was adapted into the 2022 French film Maestro, with philology and the Israel Prize in the narrative replaced by conducting and the head position at La Scala, respectively.[17]
See also
- Culture of Israel
- Cinema of Israel
- List of submissions to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Israeli submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
- ^ a b "Footnote (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ISBN 978-1908215017.
- ^ Brown, Hannah. "'Footnote' wins top pri..." Jpost.com. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
- ^ "63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
- ^ "9 Foreign Language Films Vie for Oscar". Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
- ^ "Oscars 2012: Nominees in full". BBC News. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
- ^ a b "English press kit Hearat Shulayim" (PDF). Westend Films. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Kamin, Debra (13 May 2011). "Cedar details his 'Footnote'". Variety. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- ^ "Horaires 2011" (PDF). festival-cannes.com (in French). Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
- ^ (הערת שוליים (2011 (*. ishim.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ Lodderhose, Diana; McNary, Dave (13 May 2011). "Sony Pictures Classics acquires 'Footnote'". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- Fandango. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
- CBS Interactive Inc.Retrieved 28 April 2012.
- ^ Brown, Hannah (3 June 2011). "A 'Footnote' that takes center stage". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ Chang, Justin; Debruge, Peter (22 May 2011). "'Tree of Life' wins Palme d'Or". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ Scott, A. O. (14 December 2012). "25 Favorites From A Year When 10 Aren't Enough". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^ Keslassy, Elsa (24 May 2022). "'CODA' Producer Philippe Rousselet's 'Maestro' Sells to Major Territories at Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
External links
- Official US website
- Footnote at IMDb
- Footnote at AllMovie
- Footnote at Box Office Mojo
- Footnote at Metacritic
- Footnote at Rotten Tomatoes