TWO (SHTAIM)

Astar Elkayam | Israel | 2020 | 75 min | HEBREW S.-T.EN.

Former depressive Bar (Agam Schuster) and her feisty Moroccan partner, Omer (Mor Polanuer), are one another’s ‘loveys’, amorous and aligned both in and out of the bedroom and wanting to grow their family by one. Opting to conceive, they must contend with the knotty ramifications of their wish.

With an initial frisson of humour, we find Omer becoming “totally stressed out.” The absurdities of the sperm bank, where they are promised an Aviv Alush look-alike and inundated with information about “diseases and mutations,” is only the first step on a conception journey that will involve crushing disappointments, credit cards swiped, and dredged up traumas. Together, they must face the possibility of failure and the percolating notion that there might be some other way… Astar Elkayam’s unpredictable directorial debut is about what happens when passion becomes practicality, focusing equal attention on two fascinating women – their aspirations and worries, their individual career trajectories – as they continue to wonder: will two ever become three?