BETWEEN THE TEMPLES - Mark Reviews Movies

Between the Temples, Sony Pictures Classics

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 22, 2024

What's the function of a cantor who can no longer sing, a religious teacher who is uncertain of his faith, a person who's convinced love isn't possible, and a life that doesn't seem to have purpose? Those are the questions faced by Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman), who can't bring himself to sing at synagogue services, visits a Catholic church looking for some comfort about an afterlife, and a widower of about a year who's still listening to voice messages from his dead wife.

Near the start of Between the Temples, all of this harsh reality coalesces, leading Ben to lie down in the road as a semi-truck approaches. When the driver stops, Ben tries to wave the truck forward.

It might not seem that way from the description, but co-writer/director Nathan Silver's film is a comedy—an occasionally dark and, at times, appropriately confounding one, to be sure, but a comedy, nonetheless. The story finds its protagonist at his lowest, which is completely understandable under the circumstances, but that's what makes it a comedy. There's nowhere else for Ben to go but toward something better.

The way this happens in the film is strange and unlikely. Considering just how low we find Ben at the start of this story, maybe that's the only way for this character to come to some awakening about the importance of his work, his capacity to love, and his belief that life still has something to offer even someone like him, who has all but given up on it and, as we witness on that road, was ready to do so. Ben might not know what he wants or might mistake what he thinks he wants by the end of the film, but he wants something. It's an encouraging first step.

Things definitely aren't good for Ben when we're introduced to him. He lives with his mother Meira (Caroline Aaron) and stepmother Judith (Dolly De Leon) in the basement of the house where he grew up, dealing with a door that screeches in revolt whenever he tries to shut it. It's fine enough, given Ben's situation, but both of his moms push for him to go out on one of the many dates they set up for him. Ben's not ready for that, since his wife died in such a senseless way and left him only with regret, those voice messages, a copy of the single book she wrote, and an unfinished manuscript for a novel inspired by his life.

His job at the local synagogue isn't much better, since he can't bring himself to sing privately or, especially, publicly since the wife's death. Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel) has taken over that responsibility, and considering the rabbi's vocal ability, at least he has job security for the time being, even without singing a note for over a year.

The turning point for Ben comes with a chance meeting after several decades. At the bar the truck driver drops him off at, Ben gets into a fight—if one can call it that—with some insulting customers and is consoled by an older woman whose face he eventually recognizes. She's Carla O'Connor (Carol Kane), who was Ben's music teacher in middle school. She doesn't remember him until she takes a look at his picture on an ID card while trying to find an address to drive him to.

Maybe it's because he looks a bit younger in the photo, but it seems to be the smile that reminds Carla of her former student. Schwartzman's demeanor here suggests a man who hasn't smiled like that in at least a bit more than a year.

Silver and C. Mason Wells' screenplay digs into a lot about Ben—from his familial relationships, to his questions of faith, to his conflicting thoughts about his wife as the love of his life and an alcoholic whose drinking led to her death, to his assorted and failed romantic prospects. His heart isn't in any of this, really, but seeing Carla again brings something out of him.

He's genuinely happy to see her again, a bit hurt when she doesn't initially remember him, and pleasantly surprised when his old teacher shows up to watch him teach a class for kids preparing for their bar or bat mitzvahs. She has decided that it's finally time for her to undergo that coming-of-age religious ritual, as belated as it may be. Carla wants Ben to be her teacher.

The relationship that develops between the teacher and student, now swapping roles decades later, is at the heart of the film. It's sweet and amusing, because of the flashes of giddiness Schwartzman brings to it and Kane's warm performance as someone who sees this man, who was once a student she admired and for whom she held so much hope, in distress and believes she might be able to help him. They talk about themselves, their pasts, how their old ambitions have faded into the lives they have now, and even over some "medicinal" tea, which forces Ben to confront and chase the smiling, optimistic kid he used to be.

It becomes more complicated than that, though. Ben might not even comprehend exactly how, as he connects with the rabbi's pretty, unattached daughter (played by Madline Weinstein), whose resemblance is strikingly similar to his dead wife, and faces the judgment of Carla's son (played by Matthew Shear), who's suspicious of his mother's bond with this younger guy.

Between the Temples finally arrives at a most stressful dinner, where the reaction of one participant, who might be laughing or crying, kind of sums up why the whole of the film succeeds. It's equal parts odd and sincere. We might not know whether to laugh or cry, but like Ben finally does, we're definitely feeling something.

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