Off White Lies

Synopsis

Libby’s parents separated when she was three. She’s been living with her mother and step-father in the US since then, and barely knows her father Shaul. But Libby’s mother can’t put up with her daughter's adolescent rage plus she feels like it's "her time now", so she takes the extreme step of sending her to live with her father Shaul in Israel. Shaul- on his part, is delighted to get his daughter back. And Libby? Well, no one bothered to ask her, but what does she have to lose? Our story begins with Libby landing in Tel Aviv. Shaul comes to pick her up at the airport in a car that he borrowed from his sort-of lover, and takes her directly up to the north of Israel, where they will both be staying with his friend Avner. You see, when Libby’s mother asked him if he’d be willing to take her in, he forgot to mention one small fact. He is currently “between apartments,” all his stuff is in storage, money's running out- in short his life is a mess. When they arrive at Avner’s house in Bustan Ha-Galil, Shaul and Libby are greeted by a deafening artillery bombardment. The Second Lebanon War has just begun, and the two find themselves in a suffocating bomb shelter, terrified and confused by what’s going on outside. When Libby suffers one of her asthma attacks, Shaul decides to find alternative living arrangements. They soon find themselves back in Tel Aviv, at a youth hostel, but on Shaul’s budget they can only afford to stay there for a few nights. Fortunately, Shaul isn’t worried. Even in these topsy-turvy times, he is hard at work on his latest invention, the “Smokeless,” and he believes wholeheartedly that it’s just what the world needs. The “Smokeless” is a personal smoke inhaler, which will finally enable people to smoke freely in public spaces. With a war underway and people confined to bomb shelters, it is more relevant than ever before, and he has no doubt that it will soon solve all of his financial problems. But what do they do until then? That’s what he is thinking about as he puffs on a cigarette and watches TV in the lobby of the youth hostel. On the news the anchorwoman is listing telephone numbers for various centers that coordinate between people from the North who want to escape the fighting, and families in the center of the country who are willing to host them, on account of the war . This is Shaul’s golden opportunity. He pulls out his cell phone and next thing you know he and Libby are on their way to the Reichman family in Jerusalem. At first, Libby is completely opposed to the idea of pretending to be refugees from the North. She doesn’t want to lie, and she doesn’t want to be a guest at the home of complete strangers. But once again, no one bothered to ask her. Libby and Shaul spend the whole ride to Jerusalem inventing a common history to make their lie more credible. Libby even starts to enjoy the role-playing. After all, what does she care? He’s her father, and he must know what he’s doing, right? Hilit Reichman, an attractive, ripe woman, opens the door and brings Shaul and Libby in to the family’s imposing home in Jerusalem’s German Colony, showing them to the cozy room they've prepared for them. Over dinner they meet the rest of the family- Gideon, her accomplished patriotic husband, and their enigmatic, non-patriotic, piano playing, soldier son, Yuval (who is serving in the IDF against his will). At first this odd couple raises the family's suspicions, especially the girl's elusive accent (she says it's a 'speech defect' she bears since childhood) and the Father's general eccentric manner, but they assume it's part of the deal of taking strangers into your home, and they dismiss their suspicions, accepting whatever guests fate sent them. The Reichmans seem to be exemplary hosts. Hilit is charming and soon takes up the substitute Mom role- having no daughters of her own. Yuval and Libby find they have mutual fields of interests. Shaul pitches the "smokeless" to Gideon and after a short campaign Gideon is inclined to invest in it. The two men start promoting the gadget together, building a strange bondage, and everything seems to be going on the right track. But as the business goes well, and Shaul is fully occupied by it, he pays no notice to Libby's solitude and her increasing revulsion of the whole charade. As time passes by, the lies grow bigger and the game stops being fun and turns into a nightmare. The war that meanwhile escalates only intensifies Libby's insecurity. She needs certainty, privacy, attention, friends her own age, home - all the things her father promised- but seems to have forgotten. Libby comes to realize that her father Shaul has no grasp on reality. He’s unstable, never sees things through, and is a pathological liar to boot. She wants to go back home but soon remembers home is not necessarily any better- with her egocentric Mom (who's not that eager to have her back ) and her cold as ice husband. She feels lost between two dysfunctional parents, and now she discovers their "adoptive" family is quite dysfunctional in their own way., when she finds her father in bed with Hilit while Gideon is on reserve army duty. This is the final straw for Libby, proof they must leave the Reichmann household. But when Shaul fails to see things from her point of view, she realizes she will never have a real father, one who will take care of her, she's all alone. Later on, Shaul finds Libby naked in Yuval's arms. He is devastated, struck by a strong paternal need to protect her. But it's too late. Libby decides to go back to her Mom in the US. She will never trust her Dad to care for her again. The Libby who boards the plane back to the US is not really the same girl who arrived a couple of weeks ago. Some things were lost, others were gained. Her Dad is not what she dreamed of, but she leaves with a strong sense that there is a soul on the other side of the world that she shares something deep with. This may be the story of a young girl’s adolescence, but it’s no less that of her father’s late-adolescence.