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PAST LIFE - ROUGH CUT

החטאים

By Avi NESHER

METRO COMMUNICATIONS - as PROD

Drama - Completed 2016

Based on a true story, "Past Life" tracks the daring late 1970's trans European odyssey of two sisters as they try to unravel a disturbing wartime mystery that has cast a dark and foreboding shadow on their entire lives. The shocking truth will alter their destiny forever.

- Year of production
- 2016
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- ISRAEL
- Languages
- HEBREW, ENGLISH, POLISH, GERMAN
- Duration
- 109 mn
- Director(s)
- Avi NESHER
- ISAN
- 0000-0004-7D3F-0000-W-0000-0000-F
- EIDR
- 10.5240/B2F6-AB19-C602-54C3-AAC1-D
- Synopsis
- 13 January 1977, an Israeli student choir performs at the Berlin University of the Arts. The choir's lead singer is the beautiful and idealistic Sephi Milch (21) – the daughter of two Polish holocaust survivors who came to Israel after the war and created a family and a new life for themselves. Sephi mesmerizes the audience with her angelic voice and flawless performance. At the end of the concert an elderly woman emerges from the crowd and confronts Sephi: "I just wanted to see what a daughter of a murderer looks like ".
  Sephi, shocked and overwhelmed, dares tell this to no one, until she returns to Israel and shares the disturbing accusation with her sister Nana (28) - a brilliant scandalous and outrageously sexy journalist with a distinct knack for fast living. Both sisters had to overcome a difficult childhood in order to achieve "normalcy", but now the "sins" of their father seem to have caught up with them, threatening to ruin their lives. Their father – a strict and tough gynecologist, has brought them up to be totally self-reliant and trust no one. Now they must apply the same harsh criteria towards the man who gave them life – is he indeed a murderer?
  Sephi hesitates – is it really necessary to open their parents Pandora's Box? What good would it do? For Nana truth is a supreme value, the only mechanism that can facilitate redemption. There is nothing she would not do to discover the truth – no matter the price. The investigation conducted by the two sisters is full of dangers, twists and turns. It takes them to West Germany, Poland and the Ukraine, where nothing proves to be exactly what it appears to be and the slippery concept of "truth" turns out to be very subjective.
  During the yearlong odyssey another blow awaits the sisters: Nana discovers that she is gravely ill with an illness she attributes to the toxic atmosphere at home. History wreaks trauma not only on a given generation, Nana tells her sister, but also on the generation that follows. It is like a curse, and the curse must be broken if the sisters are to survive it.
  But time is running out on them - will they discover the truth before death strikes? Once the truth manifests itself, can they live with it? Or will they want to exact vengeance?