The Bubble

2007 Comedy Drama

Director Eytan Fox bursts the idyllic bubble of cosmopolitan Tel Aviv with this thought-provoking meditation on cultural relations concerning a brooding Israeli reserve soldier who enters into a passionate same-sex affair with an intense Palestinian man. Noam (Ohad Knoller) shares his posh Tel Aviv apartment with progressive-minded twentysomething Lulu (Daniela Wircer) and flamboyant café owner Yali (Alon Friedman). It was during checkpoint duty that Noam first made the acquaintance of intense and handsome Palestinian Ashraf (Yousef "Joe" Sweid). Though their initial meeting was someone harried as Ashraf struggled to aid a woman who was forced to give birth at the roadside, a connection was formed and Ashraf soon comes knocking on Noam's door. In the weeks that follow, the pair embark on an intense love affair and the amiable Ashraf forms a fast bond with Lulu and Yali. But life in Tel Aviv couldn't be more different from life in nearby occupied Palestine, and as the reality of the violence that surrounds them slowly envelopes them, Noam and Ashraf find that their heated affair was doomed from the moment they locked eyes. more..

Director: Eytan Fox

Starring: Ohad Knoller, Yousef Sweid, Daniela Virtzer, Alon Friedmann, Zion Baruch

Reviews

  • Director and co-writer Eytan Fox is going for a sexually democratic, politically aware variation on story themes familiar to "Sex and the City" viewers. (At one point Lulu is referred to as "Miss Israeli Carrie Bradshaw.") Surprisingly, it works, and the entire cast is excellent.

    Michael Phillips - The Chicago Tribune

    19 January 2013

  • The Bubble surprises us at every turn.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    19 January 2013

  • Mr. Fox may be a romantic, but he understands that love is rarely all you need.

    Jeannette Catsoulis - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • Eytan Fox delivers another involving tale in The Bubble.

    Dennis Harvey - Variety

    19 January 2013

  • It's only when The Bubble takes a swift turn into domino-tipping tragedy in the final act that a tender, fraught love story feels casually discarded in favor of something psychologically pat and ham-fistedly earth-shattering.

    - Los Angeles Times

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Music

    Awards of the Israeli Film Academy (2006)

     
  • Panorama

    Berlin International Film Festival (2007)

  • Best Feature

    Dublin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (2007)

  • Gal Uchovsky

    Durban International Film Festival (2007)

  • Outstanding Film - Limited Release

    GLAAD Media Awards (2008)