Little Jerusalem

Little Jerusalem is a 2005 French drama film directed by Karin Albou. Albou's film depicts how the conflict between the rational and the irrational drives the relationships within a Jewish family living in the outskirts of Paris. Plot Laura, (Fanny Valette), is a young orthodox Jewish philosophy student who lives with her older sister Mathilde (Elsa Zylberstein), Mathilde's husband Ariel, their four children and her Tunisian mother in an apartment on the outskirts of Paris. Despite her mother's attempts to marry her off Laura is devoted to Kantian reasoning and has decided to live a life based on rules with no room for love. Feeling confined by her brother-in-law Laura dreams of getting an apartment in the centre of Paris. Mathilde meanwhile is happy with her life until she discovers a hair on her husband's coat. After she confronts him he admits he has been having an affair. Mathilde decides to divorce him and tells Laura who angrily asks Ariel how he could cheat on his wife. He reveals that he is unhappy with their sex life but does not want to suggest that they do anything differently for fear of offending his modest wife. Mathilde goes to see a woman at the mikveh, who helps to instruct her in what the Torah says regarding sexual relations and how she can pleasure her husband. Mathilde reveals that she does not feel desire towards her husband but slowly, over time she begins to reconnect with her husband sexually.