The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch

Motti is the son of an orthodox Jewish family in Zurich. His mother wants him married and introduces him to the girls she finds suitable; every meeting goes the same way and he feels nothing at any of them. At university he meets Laura. Laura is not Jewish. He cannot tell his family. From then the narrative follows a man caught between two sides: his mother's world and the life he wants. Michael Steiner directs. Joel Basman plays Motti, Noémie Schmidt plays Laura and Sunnyi Melles his mother. It is a Swiss production. The source is Thomas Meyer's novel, which had sold widely in Switzerland. The film was a large commercial success there and among the most watched domestic productions of its year. Its language is a Swiss German carrying Yiddish influence, and that is an important source of the humour. The attitude the narrative takes is not to mock the community; the mother is oppressive and the film does not show her as unloving. Motti's indecision is at the centre and the film gives him no easy way out. Its limit is formula; the narrative follows the expected stages of romantic comedy and the ending can be guessed. Who it is for: viewers who like comedy built on cultural conflict. Who it is not for: the humour is local, some characters are types, and the subject is treated shallowly.