Lovely Girl Review

The Lovely Girl is Lonely

The relationship between a father and daughter has the potential to be the strongest and most influential backbone in a woman’s life.  It also has the potential to be the sole cause of her loss. The Lovely Girl directed by Israeli writer and director Keren Yedaya illustrates the story of one woman’s relationship between her father. Sadly her groundwork is based on loss rather than encouragement.

Tammy (Maayan Turjeman) and her father Mosche (Tzahi Grad) possess a father daughter relationship that crosses conventional lines like a tsunami engulfing an entire city. The mind of Tammy has been consumed by her father’s continued abuse in a way that is traumatic and shocking. The two developed an incestual relationship.  With the lines of father and daughter being nonexistent. The couple exist with the power structure undeniably catering to Mosche. Tammy’s love is dependent on her father’s sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, obsession, and abandonment.

She cooks for him. She cleans for him. She is his sex toy. That is all she knows. Tammy is domesticated in every sense as both a daughter and girlfriend. Her identity is found from the perpetual engulfing storm that is Mosche. This instability is illustrated through the cuts on her wrist, the repetitive brushing of her teeth after binging, and constant external body insecurities.

Tammy’s weakness is excessive to the point that her personality comes across as dry and repetitive. The simplicity of her bodily external repetitive chores as a domestic carry over to the complex essence of her being or lack there of.

 Yedaya tells the story of Tammy through  her protagonist perspective with a great use of close ups. Mosche’s every movement tells a story of Tammy’s repetitive, enclosed life.

Through the perspective of French film theorists Bazin, Tammy’s constant close up’s illustrate a coded complexity between the spectator and herself.  In one moment in particular, Tammy is partaking in binge eating through a constant and explicit take that lasts about a minute. From the tears of her eyes, to the snot of her nose, and the excessive contents in her mouth; it was bewildering to feel so close yet so far away to Tammy.

Maayan portrays Tammy in a way that will cause the spectator to cringe. Many times throughout the film, I just wanted to shake her; but the remembrance of her frailty would cause pity to reform in replacement. The frustration of how Tammy constantly returns back to her father no matter how much pain he inflicts upon her is one that continually haunts the entire film.

Tzahi Grad played his role as a monster with ease. The hate and utter disgust of Mosche as an abuser is one that plagues the film like an epidemic. He has a presence on film that symbolizes the male ego and entitlement in society in an overwhelming way.

Maayan Turjeman’s performance of Tammy was a chilling one. The constant bodily reactions and “excess” that stemmed personally from her portrayal is one that cannot be ignored. Her beauty is one that is not appreciated in the realm of film and the media. Tammy has a curvy, stout body similar to paintings by Michelangelo or Rapheal.  Her round face could be called plain but possesses great character with moles and freckles. 

It is frustrating that films with unconventional actresses such as Maayan must constantly focus on issues concerning the weakness and frailty of women.  The self-esteem problems and shortcomings for women on and off the screen seem to be cyclical. The stories are real and true yet may in turn just create a superficial awareness.

Issues in The Lovely Girl exist and are sadly more prevalent than most individuals care to know. Nevertheless, will the raw, explicit nature of The Lovely Girl make a difference in the world of abuse and domestic violence for women or just further the male ego and dominance of control?  

Prepare to leave The Lovely Girl with unsettling feelings that words would rather hide than try to express due to its inexpressible core.

It is a film that a one-time sitting is enough to evoke its message and carry the spirits of billions of women both past and present around the world.

Cast: Maayan Turjeman, Tzahi Grad, Yael Abecassis, Tal Ben Bina

Director: Keren Yedaya

Screenwriter: Keren Yedaya, adapted from a novel by Shez

Producers: Marek Rozenbaum, Michael Rozenbaum, Jérôme Bleitrach, Emmanuel Agneray, Michael Eckelt