After this film, Shemi Zarhin also wrote and directed "The World Is Funny," also set in Tiberias and also featuring some of the same actors. Also, in fact, involving attempts by the characters to write fiction. In both movies, an ordinary person seeks out help from a celebrity whose fame rests on his past. But it's been complained on these pages that in "Aviva, My Love" there are too many characters. I think that in "The World Is Funny" there are more, but the story is balanced among them and it's a more pleasant story. In "Aviva, My Love" much more attention goes to the female lead than to anyone else, and you can imagine why. Although she's supported by some of Israel's best actors, Assi Levy is consistently magnetic on the screen here. She won the country's best film actress award for this performance. It's not surprising that the film winds up giving little time to, for example, her adolescent children. How many are there, three? Pretty much the same film could have been written with two or even one. Not that I'm complaining. It's more gratifying to see someone make an impressive film like this and then a more impressive one like "The World Is Funny" than the other way around.
Review of Aviva, My Love
