Shiva for My Mother (2003)

"Mom died this morning. I have always craved her hugs and her approval, but it did not happen". The film begins right after the funeral of my mom, Ziona. We sit Shiva at my parents' home. My parents represented the melting pot of Tel Aviv: a Sabra and a Berliner physician, who barely escaped the Nazis in 1933. Suddenly, my sister Nurit, my brother Micha, and I, Yael, are orphans. I ask my son, Dan, to document the Shiva and beg him to be gentle and unobtrusive, but that is not his filming style. "Shiva on Mother" is a mourning journey unfolding through the different stages of grief, through the days of the Shiva. It begins with nostalgic stories about Ziona, but soon turns into a search for resolutions of past conflicts with her mother. In the back rooms of the house, the brother and sisters talk about painful issues regarding their relations with their parents. Anger, frustrations and doubts are expressed. Being exposed and fragile, her own children accuse Yael of the same things she accused her mother. At the end of the Shiva, Yael finds a letter that her mother wrote but never sent, saying how much she wanted to hug her. Only then does she achieve a sense of closure, and can relate to her mother with a new understanding.