The Film Source Collection

The Deserter's Wife

Drama
1993 / 81 mins / Israeli-French / Color

Starring:
Fanny Ardant, Sharon Alexander
Shmuel Vilozni and Giddi Gov

Written & Directed by
Michel Bat-Adam

Cinematography by
Fabio Conversi

Nina, a French concert pianist, marries Ilan, an Israeli computer engineer and moves to live with him in Israel. A child is bom to them. Moving to a new country, is hard on Nina. She has to start all over again to establish herself as a musician in the new country.

Ilan, a reserve officer in the Israeli army, is wounded under mysterious circumstances while on duty in the West Bank during the Intifada. Ilan seems to be in a state of shock. He doesn't speak or react in any way.

Through scraps of information reaching her, Nina understands that Ilan's family and friends are trying to keep her in the dark as to what has really happened to her husband.

Burdened with a child and an incapacitated husband, Nina has to prepare herself to be ready for her first concert as a soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic.

Nina, feeling abandoned, continues obstinately to search for the truth to what has happened to Ilan, hoping that she will thus bring him back to her.