Although it has a very big, dynamic prop-- the name of the movie in Hebrew is "A House in the Galilee," and at the start of the plot, the construction of the house is just beginning-- the movie is basically a dialogue movie. House or no house, it wouldn't take much to adapt the filmscript into a stage play. The dialogue is often witty, and when it's not, it's a painfully realistic depiction of everyday tensions and misunderstandings, which indeed often arise when a couple embarks on a new and unfamiliar project such as housebuilding. The couple that carries the film (with the help of some guest stars) is very believable. You could think some of the dialogue was improvised, and for all I know some of it was, though much of it is too well written for spur-of-the-moment.
A non-Israeli audience might need to be told that the Galilee, where the picture takes place, is a fashionable exurbia for those who can afford to live at a distance from the big cities, and that some of the Galilee communities are moshavim, where you have to be accepted as a member in order to reside and the heir of a member has an advantage in applying for the privilege of building a new house.
A non-Israeli audience might need to be told that the Galilee, where the picture takes place, is a fashionable exurbia for those who can afford to live at a distance from the big cities, and that some of the Galilee communities are moshavim, where you have to be accepted as a member in order to reside and the heir of a member has an advantage in applying for the privilege of building a new house.
