| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 24, 2011

This beautiful tale of two sisters living in Sarcelles, a low-income Parisian suburb of mostly new immigrants, presents the darker side of religion while offering a candid view of an Orthodox Jewish family struggling to stay together.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 15, 2006

The film, which means well in its attempt to touch on Kantian philosophy, racial divides, sex and orthodoxy, and secularism versus religion, manages to insult each one of these heavy subjects by not giving any of them the serious, thoughtful attention the

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 16, 2006

It is a story told in small moments, the camera close-up on a look, the stroke of a hand, the way a blonde thread is revealed in a husband's jacket.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 19, 2006

The background of Little Jerusalem is a grimy landscape, both physical and political, and it overwhelms the fragile exploration undertaken by the sisters. Or maybe that's the whole point.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 19, 2006

Anyone shopping by the ton for melodrama is well advised to browse the ample display on view in this cinematic square.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 19, 2006

Rich in perceptive details, Albou's film has drawn favorable comparison to the work of Claire Denis (The Intruder, Friday Night), and both directors share a sensual sensitivity to their characters' inner lives.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 12, 2006

The grand ideas are effectively integrated into a drama that relies equally upon the head, the heart and the body for inspiration.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 6, 2006

It's very well-acted and directed, shot with great vigor, mostly in roaming closeups that plunge us right into the thick of things.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 4, 2006

[If the film] is a story of escape and liberation, it also shows a calibrated respect for tradition and the ancient pull of family loyalty.

Full Review | May 4, 2006

Albou is adventurous in intermixing a young woman's coming-of-age with a search for secular belief but her story is a bit shy on drama.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 13, 2006

Even though the romance angle disappoints, the story still holds interest because of the jarring cultural differences, even between the Paris-reared daughters and their superstitious Tunisian mother.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 2, 2006

It evaporates from your mind even while watching it.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2006

In their separate ways, Laura and Mathilde have discovered how to shape their own destinies in a turbulent period of clashing civilizations.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2006

It would be hard to imagine a filmmaking style as serious yet lazy as the earnest vrit bobbing and weaving employed by La Petite Jrusalem.

| Original Score: C | Feb 1, 2006

The best reason to watch La Petite Jerusalem is Fanny Valette, a bona-fide beauty who brings a commitment and gravity to scenes that don't always deserve them.

| Jan 29, 2006

Beautifully played by Valette and Zylberstein, and directed with amazing grace by Albou, this touching film offers a respectful, fascinating look at a community that's ignored as often as it's misunderstood.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 27, 2006

Albou's chosen a touchy subject, which she treats sensitively. Her mature script is complemented by heartfelt turns by Fanny Valette as Laura and Elsa Zylberstein as Mathilde.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 27, 2006

Albou gives a traditional plot a rich sense of detail and a sensitivity to her characters.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 27, 2006

Centered on people of limited means, pic intelligently explores the ways in which the demands of a tightly knit religious community can be stifling or liberating depending on one's own temperament.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2006