By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Oren had a wife in Jerusalem and a gay lover in Berlin. Leaving Berlin for home, he forgot some of his personal belongings, so the cakemaker Tomas (Tim Kalkhof) called him again and again. But Oren didn’t answer. Distraught, Tomas investigated, only to learn from business associates that Oren had been killed in a traffic accident in Jerusalem.
This was not the end of the story; it was the beginning. Tomas traveled to Jerusalem to learn more about Oren, perhaps to get some closure. He went to the café that Oren’s wife Anat (Sarah Adler) recently had opened. Eventually, she gave him a job as a dishwasher and kitchen helper, not knowing that in fact Tomas was a master baker.
One day Tomas made some cookies, which caused Anat’s brother-in-law Moti to have a near fit. Tomas wasn’t Jewish, and by using the oven he endangered the kosher status of Anat’s café. Of course, Tomas was unaware of these rules and apologized. Anat, not nearly so religious as Motti, tasted the cookies and found them delicious.
Eventually, Tomas got himself an apartment, where he baked many German specialties, including black forest cake, apricot cake, and other exquisite tastes of Germany. Whenever Anat tasted his creations, she became more enamored of his abilities. She arranged for Tomas to prepare the pastries at the café, but not to use its oven. This was in compliance with the laws of kashrut, and business at the café boomed.
It was not only Tomas’s baking that attracted Anat. When Itai, her son, ran away and then came back to the café while she and Moti were searching for him, Tomas prepared hot chocolate for him, and then taught him how to put icing on cookies while they waited for Itai’s mother and uncle to return. Anat watched how good Tomas was with her boy, and perhaps imagined him to be Itai’s stepfather.
As they worked closer together, Anat’s attraction to Tomas also grew. She did not know that Tomas had been her husband’s lover. He lied to her, saying he did not know Oren. And so the attraction deepened, and the lie became harder and harder to untell. Tension rose to a baking point.
The denouement of this drama is a surprise, and quite satisfactory. I was impressed not only by the acting, but also by the directing and the photography. The Hebrew, German, and English-language movie is scheduled for release the week of July 23rd. I can recommend it without reservation.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com