Grief, comedy, and an unexpected love story

By Sarah T. Schwab

Imagine the sound of muted trumpet mixed with the low hum of air escaping a balloon. This resembles the sound of a Shofar – a musical instrument made of ram’s horn blown by Hebrews during battle and at religious observances. Its distinct sound opens “Between the Temples,” providing the perfect atmosphere for the story to come.

This comedic drama centers around Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman), a cantor who has been unable to sing after the death of his wife. Living in the basement of his mothers’ house, played by Judith (Dolly DeLeon) and Meira Gottlieb (Caroline Aaron), Ben is at wit’s end with grief, “wit” being the operative word.

Written by Nathan Silver and C. Mason Wells, “Between the Temples” deals with existential topics while loading every scene with palpable humor. This levity lets the viewer embrace tough subjects while laughing at real-life predicaments and decisions.

After a year sabbatical of lamenting, Ben stands at the pulpit during Shabbat. Unable to sing, he exits the synagogue without a word wearing his prayer shawl and walks home in the dark listening to his late wife’s dirty voice messages. Overcome with pain, he abruptly lays in the middle of the road as a tractor trailer approaches. The truck stops. “C’mon!” he yells, bidding the driver to run him over, “keep going!” Instead he’s dropped off at a bar.

It is here when he is reunited with his old grade school music teacher Carla Kessler (Carol Kane). As the two revisit the past, Carla declares that she wants a Bat Mitzvah, and she wants Ben to teach her. Given her age he scoffs at the idea but Carla replies, “I think you need to get your balls back.”

Carla explains to Ben that her parents were communists and her late husband was an atheist. She always loved the language and chanting, but no one taught her what it all meant. Most of all, she loved the music. Like Ben, Carla is lost and is hoping to find her place in the world.

Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel), who enjoys chipping golf balls into a “non-kosher” Shofar, blesses Carla’s request, and thus teacher and student swap places. 

Reminiscent of Harold and Maude (1971), Ben and Carla bond over Hebrew classes, non-kosher burgers and music – Carla is determined to help Ben find his voice. He fetches an old VHS tape of his Bar Mitzvah and goes to her house to watch it.

Carla accidently serves Ben psychedelic mushroom-laced tea and Ben hallucinates his younger self, having conversations with him and chasing him after young Ben steals old Ben’s yarmulke (he called it a “kippah” in that scene). After Carla tucks him into her son’s old bed to sleep off the high, the classes move to Carla’s house.

Ben’s love life plays a key role in the action, as friends and family fix him up. Ben encounters an attractive woman waiting for him outside the synagogue who explains, “I’m here for our J Date.” After she reveals she is actually Protestant, she explains, “I just hate the way foreskin feels.”

Rabbi Bruce’s daughter Gabby (Madeline Weinstein) is a nice Jewish girl, recently home after a failed engagement. The two are immediately attracted to one another, which climaxes during a steamy session in Gabby’s car when they visit the cemetery together. Ben is left with decisions to make in matters of love — of both body and soul.

“Between the Temples” asks audiences to contemplate life’s bigger questions while watching an unlikely pair battle challenges together that culminates with an ongoing healing journey.

“Between the Temples” runtime is 1 hour, 54 minutes. It can be seen at North Park and the Regal Transit Cinemas.

Sarah T. Schwab is a filmmaker and a critic for The Buffalo Hive.