TV review: Shtisel deals with desire, grief and resentment
Shtisel: available now on Netflix
We're after falling for (Netflix) in our place. A friend recommended it a few months back but I was put off by the photo of ultra-Orthodox Jewish people on the still photo on Netflix. Not that I have anything against ultra-Orthodox Jewish people, just that we watched the excellent Unorthodox mini-series recently and I thought it would cover the same ground.
It doesn’t. Unorthodox is about a young woman escaping an oppressive life among ultra-Orthodox Jewish families in New York city. When we finally tuned into Shtisel we discovered a really relatable human drama, that just happen s to be set in an Orthodox, or Haredi, neighbourhood in Jerusalem. It pivots around Akiva Shtisel, the sensitive, artistic, slightly sly youngest son of a rabbi, Shulem Shtisel.
It’s time for Akiva to find a bride, which in this community involves engaging the services of a matchmaker and then meeting a succession of youngish women in a hotel lobby to see if they are suitable for each other. Unfortunately Akiva only has eyes for this older woman, twice widowed, which makes her unsuitable for the son of a rabbi.
Meanwhile , Akiva’s sister Giti has to watch as her no-good husband ‘goes to Argentina’, which seems to mean ‘leaves her for another woman’. Their bitter brother, Zvi Ayre, feels thwarted and inadequate. If all this sounds a bit like East E nders set in Jerusalem, it isn’t. The pace is slow and seductive. My wife had read that it’s a slow-burner, which is unfair.
It’s more that Shtisel lures you into their world and lets you see them as people, rather than just tragic figures trapped in a lifestyle that feels thousands of years old. It’s a restrictive world, but none of them seem to want to leave it behind.
O nce you’re in this world, you’re watching one of the most bingeable shows I’ve seen in a while. The characters are flawed and forgiving and unpredictable, they have good moods and bad moods, they aren’t sure they’re doing the right thing, but they do it anyway, which is a lot like real life, regardless of whether or not they have side-curls, black hats and wigs.
The show isn’t political, at least not in season one of three seasons. Instead it deals with intimate, inner worlds, with plenty of desire , grief, jealousy and resentment. Actually, it is a bit EastEnders that way, but with out the shoutin g and drums-at-the end cliff-hangers.
This doesn’t need a cliff hanger. We keep coming back for the intensity of it all. You feel what they’re feeling. There is no sign of any sex in Shtisel, unfortunately, but then you can’t have everything. (If you’re stuck, put on Sex/Life on Netflix, I hear it loses nothing if you leave the sound on mute.)
But the sense of longing is still powerful, whether it’s erotic or the harsh longing that comes with grief (the Sht i sels are mourning the loss of their mother and wife). This show will affect you. Give it a watch.
