Fill The Void review

A heart-shaped gap...

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Like Jane Austen in Tel Aviv, Rama Burshtein’s debut is a warm, watchful slant on marital mores in an ultraorthodox Jewish community.

Our torn heroine is Shira (Hadas Yaron), an 18-year-old urged to wed new dad Yochay (Yiftach Klein) when his wife, Shira’s sister, dies.

The resulting pickle may seem alien to many, but Yaron’s navigation of Shira’s struggles make it tangible.

So does Burshtein’s vivid community portrait: a New Yorker who converted to Judaism, she illuminates the culture’s complexities with the clarity that Austen brought to her world’s relationship rituals.

Freelance writer

Kevin Harley is a freelance journalist with bylines at Total Film, Radio Times, The List, and others, specializing in film and music coverage. He can most commonly be found writing movie reviews and previews at 12DOVE.