Merav (Shiri Gadni) has been trying to get pregnant for seven years, but at the moment when it finally looks like the artificial insemination bore fruit, she is told that it is a false pregnancy. She is also informed that, according to her medical records, she can not conceive at all. Despite of severe health risks, Merav refuses to take a pill that would end the symptoms and she continues behaving like a pregnant woman. Her belly can ( and does) fool everyone, even her husband Yiftah (Tom Hagi), and the only one who knows the truth and tries to talk sense into Merav is her mother (Idit Teperson).
Ten Months screened at Tallinn Black Nights
The genesis of the whole project is very interesting. It was inspired by something that was happening right in front of the director's eyes. Hubel had only one idea about his next film when he met lead actress Gadni, who had just found out about her pregnancy. This coincidence (he wanted to shoot a film about a woman who gets pregnant, but finds out that something's wrong) or rather – destiny, has pretty much shaped the script for Hubel's drama “Ten Months”. Both talents decided to make the use of the actual pregnancy which also dictated the pace of the whole shooting.
Merav's psychological nightmare is described in three stages: hopes of offspring, betrayal by medics and family, and hopes of a miracle being perpetually trampled on. This extreme emotional load doesn't work well at all times. Although the longing, the pain and determination to take one's life in one's own hands is something that any normal human being can relate to, the lead character behaves as a teenager who counters her mother, and rarely as an adult in a difficult, heart tearing situation.
There is also something awkward about the sudden disappearance of the husband who's up to very late in the film, presented as loving and caring man, who would do anything for Merav. Before his Irish exit, Yiftah is seen holding his wife, stroking her head and telling about his dream of a kid running towards him, calling him dad. There is your proof that you can't live of love and water.
Well developed is the relationship mother-daughter, with Teperson shining in her role as a stage actress and person of iron will-power who is doing everything possible to make her daughter do the right thing, and come back to reality.
“Ten Months” has recently had its world-premiere in the Official Selection of Tallinn Black Nights, which could secure it a long international festival journey.
