THE CAKEMAKER
Israel/Germany, 2017, 101 minutes, Colour.
Sarah Adler, Tim Kalkhof, Zohar Shtrauss, Roy Miller
Directed by Ofir Raul Graizer.
The cakemaker won an Ecumenical Award at the Czech Festival, 2017, in Karlovy Vary, praising the humanity of the themes and treatment.
The cake maker of the title lives in Berlin, making cakes in a cafe, befriending an Israeli engineer who visits Berlin once a month – and having an affair with him. Interesting to note that the screenplay keeps the scenes of intimacy until the latter part of the film, focusing more on the ordinary humanity and a day by day life of Thomas, the cake maker.
On learning that the engineer has been killed in a car accident, Thomas goes to Jerusalem, eating in the restaurant owned by his lover’s wife, then employed by her. He is a quiet and gentle man, running foul of some Kosher regulations by using the stove to make some of his cookies, but adapting, making more cakes and bringing more custom to the restaurant. The wife invites him to a Sabbath meal as does her very orthodox brother-in-law. There is a suggestion that his lover’s mother is possibly aware of the past relationship.
The wife gradually falls in love with the cake maker and they consummate the relationship, important for her and a telling scene where, at some length, she sits on her bed and laughs with joy. However, while he imitates what his lover did with his wife, his memories are of his lover.
The end of the film is somewhat open-ended as he is ousted from Jerusalem when the truth is learnt, returns to his work in Berlin, but the wife makes her way to Berlin and observes him as he leaves work – a slight smile on her face and her looking to the heavens and leaving it to the audience to speculate on the future.
1. The title, Thomas as the cake maker, his life, work, relationships, love, his quest?
2. The Berlin locations, the cityscapes? Apartments, the cafe? The Jerusalem locations, the panoramas of the city, the streets, the restaurant, homes? The Orthodox atmosphere? The musical score?
3. Thomas’s story, as a cook, baking cakes, his age, living alone, the story of being brought up by his grandmother, his mother’s death, his father’s absence? Oren coming to the shop, choosing the cakes? The relationship between the two? Oren and his job in building, railways, going home to Jerusalem, the monthly visits? The relationship between the two? Oren leaving, leaving behind the cakes? Thomas and the phone calls? Going to the company office, learning of Oren’s death? The decision to show the intimate relationship sequences later in the film?
4. Thomas going to Jerusalem, seeking Oren’s wife, eating in the restaurant, the offer of work, her hiring him, the menial work, making the cookies, cooking on the stove, Moti, Kosher, and the denunciation, the importance of the Kosher reputation of the restaurant? Thomas, his relationship with the family, the Sabbath dinner, yet the son and his fear of eating Thomas’s cakes? Making further cakes, the increase in business, the large orders? Working with Oren’s wife? Meeting his mother, the intimations that she knew about the relationship, later showing him the room? Moti, the emphasis on Kosher? Inviting Thomas to a sabbath dinner? Then turning against him, supporting the wife?
5. The wife, her character, relationship with her husband, her son, the restaurant? The sexual attraction, the encounters with Thomas? The focus on the intimacy? Thomas imitating Oren and his descriptions of lovemaking? The context for his remembering Oren? His leaving, returning to Berlin?
6. Oren, his work, the visits, the cakes, the affair, sharing, the 13 calls and the revelation of his death? The wife later revealing his plan to leave her, go to Berlin, going to the hotel, the accident and his death?
7. Oren’s wife, opening the restaurant, her hard work, the Kosher certificate? Hard work, the need for help, Thomas and his eating, her inviting him to work, his making biscuits, the conflict about the stove, making the Black Forest cake, the orders, her family and her son, the celebration of the Sabbath with Thomas, Moti and his interventions? Her attraction to Thomas, the effect, the sexual encounter and her sitting on the bed and laughing in joy? Her learning the truth, going through Oren’s possessions, the dockets from the Berlin Café? His mobile phone and hearing Thomas’s declarations? Wanting Thomas out? Yet her travelling to Berlin, watching Thomas at the shop, the touch of the smile, looking to the sky? The future?
8. The son, very strict, the portrait of Moti, Kosher? The sympathetic mother?
9. Themes of love, orientations, the situation? Fidelity, betrayal, hopes?
10. The tenderness of the interactions between the characters? Leaving the intimacy till later in the film?
11. The film winning an Ecumenical Award in Karlovy Vary?
