ActressNatalie Portmangoes back to her homeland of Israel in the firstinternational trailerfor her directorial debut,A Tale of Love and Darkness. The drama had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, but the project doesn’t have domestic distribution as of yet, so we’re not sure when it may hit theaters stateside. While the trailer is entirely in the Hebrew language, without English subtitles, it’s still worth seeing the first footage, despite the language barrier.
Based on Amos Oz’s international best-seller,A Tale of Love and Darknessis the story of Oz’s youth at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. The film details young Amos' relationship with his mother and his birth as a writer, looking at what happens when the stories we tell, become the stories we live.Natalie Portmanalso wrote the screenplay adaptation and stars as Amos' mother Fania Oz.
This project has actually been in the works for almost a decade, withNatalie Portmansigning on to make herdirectorial debutwith the adaptation way back in 2007.Naomi Foner(Running on Empty) was original set to write the script at the time, butNatalie Portmaneventually ended up writing the movie herself. The supporting cast is rounded out by Machram Huri, Shira Haas, Neta Riskin and Gilad Kahana.
It remains to be seen if an American distributor will step up and showcase the film in U.S. theaters.Natalie Portmanstarring, writing and directing does have a certain appeal that could lure moviegoers to theaters. However, American audiences tend to shy away fromsubtitled films, with a few notable exceptions. For instance,Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is the only foreign-language film to earn over $100 million at the U.S.box office, during its theatrical run.
What do you think about this first trailer forNatalie Portman’s directorial debut? Would you give this a shot in theaters when it’s finally released? Or do you think there should be an English subtitled version? Let us know what you think after checking out the first footage fromA Tale of Love and Darkness.
