The Secrets (Ha-Sodot) (R)

synopsis

Naomi, the brilliant and pious daughter of an ultra orthodox rabbi finds herself at a crossroads of life choices when her mother dies and she is expected to immediately marry her father's prodigy. Distressed yet determined, she begs that her father allow her one year to study at a women's religious seminary in Safed, the birthplace of the Kabala, in order to prepare herself for the sacrifices she will make as a wife. Her father relents and Naomi's life begins to take an unexpected turn. Devote but lively, Naomi and her new friend Michelle befriend a beautiful, mysterious older woman, Anouk. The woman is ill, lives nearby, may or may not be Jewish, and may have committed a crime of passion. Naomi devises a series of rituals which will somehow "purify" Anouk and purge her of her sins, but as these stretch the borders of Jewish law they must be kept secret. Eventually, this journeys into the forbidden and leads to a growing attraction between the two girls and more crossroads are faced.