Relativity (4 Stars)

When I saw this film in the cinema I was blown away by the philosophical concepts thrown at me. Today I decided to concentrate on its value as a love story. It's difficult to separate the philosophical from the romantic in the film, because it determines the film's structure. Aron is the love of Nora's life, but he's shot dead within the film's first five minutes. The rest of the film shows how she deals with her grief, contrasting it with flashbacks of her romance, shown in reverse chronological order.

Nora's choices are unusual, to say the least. Aron is shot in a bank robbery, trying to protect Nora when the robber is arguing with her. A few days later she has a chance encounter with Natan on the street. They work at the same supermarket, but they've never met, because she's a daytime cashier while he's a night watchman. She recognises his voice from the bank. He's the man who shot her lover. Yet she begins an affair with him. Does she think it's Aron's wish? When Aron lay dying, the last words he whispered to Nora were "My end is your beginning".

This isn't a film to watch and forget. It's a film to sit and think about. Even as I'm writing this post I keep pausing between sentences to think about the impact the film had on me. Compare this post with my first review to see both sides of the film.