The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Season 1 Part 1 Almost Lives up to Its Potential
Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Season 1 Part 1. There is also a discussion of sexual violence.
Israeli television has been having a moment in the spotlight. Shows like Shtisel, Fauda, and Tehran have all been brought to the mainstream in recent years, often to great acclaim.
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Sarit Yishai-Levi, follows in these footsteps.
An adaptation of a book doesn’t need to be 100% faithful to the source material at all times. However, the show provides an interesting case study in distilling what made the book so compelling; its attempt delivers mixed results punctuated by moments of brilliance.
Let’s start with the titular character herself, Luna, played by newcomer Swell Ariel Or. Or herself delivers a masterful performance, sure to earn her a place among Israel’s top acting talent.
The character of Luna, though, makes hardly any sense. In the source material, she’s a woman whose focus is so self-centered that it’s to the detriment of everyone in her life, including her sisters and eventually her daughter.
In the series, she’s painted as an optimistic, semi-politically conscientious youth, willing to remain in jail indefinitely to protect her uncle, who fights against the British occupation.
It’s as if the show wants to have her character both ways — as a self-focused princess while also being aware of the greater context in which she exists. It’s ultimately confusing and is often a distraction.
The show should’ve stuck to the character’s origins. Luna’s gradual realization, sort of, of the greater socio-political context in which she finds herself is actually quite an honest and relatable journey. She’s short-changed in the show.
There’s an argument to be made from the source material that Luna is actually demisexual or asexual. It’s interesting to see the character’s focus shift to romance and a budding love triangle rather than on herself and her physical appearance.
Although this choice is unsurprising, portraying the character closer to her book origins may have left more to interpretation in terms of her sexuality.
All of this being said, Luna’s relationship with her sister Rachel (Eli Steen) is perfect. The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem really said “Sisters before Misters,” and it’s the message we all need.
Rachel’s arc is a compelling one, and it’s a solid choice to bring in her… activities this early in the story. As simplistic as it is, it’s important for this character to realize the very real implications of eye-for-eye violence that characterized this period in Israel’s history.
Now, it has to be said that Michael Aloni is a star in Israel for a reason. His performance here leaves no doubt that he’s one of the most talented actors in Israel today.
Aloni’s character Gabriel, however, leaves much to be desired. He is so often infuriating and not always in a way that works.
He’s heavy on the hypocrisy and light on possessing anything resembling a functional personality. Only Aloni could turn such a seemingly irredeemable character into one worth watching.
It’s interesting that Rochel (Yuval Scharf) plays a fairly different role in Gabriel’s story. Seeing Gabriel as a man obsessed, unable to let her go, made his character far less sympathetic in many ways.
Don’t get me wrong, Scharf is another incredible performance, and it’s great that the show found a way to incorporate her more.
It really is a shame, though, that Rochel isn’t more fleshed out as a character. There would have been an opportunity to further explore the conflict between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities for viewers who aren’t familiar.
Perhaps the most interesting character to follow in The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem is Rosa, played by Hila Saada.
Her story translates perfectly to this TV adaptation. Saada is an objectively attractive woman, so it’s fascinating to hear her character constantly be told how ugly she is.
However, the real ugliness emerges as it slowly becomes clear that Rosa’s internalized these messages over time and genuinely accepts this as a fact about herself.
Rosa’s continued inability and refusal to stand in her own power and her choice to express this lack of control by being jealous does, in fact, make her one of the show’s ugliest characters.
The way that this development unfolds is incredibly relatable to anyone who has ever had a complex about their appearance.
Rosa’s dynamic with her mother-in-law Merkada (Irit Kaplan) is perfectly toxic and makes for compelling viewing. This relationship is arguably the crux of the entire setup of this story. With the exception of the ending, this dynamic follows such an enthralling progression.
On that note, as much as I don’t want to, we have to talk about that ending.
Violent sexual assault is rarely necessary to portray on-screen, if not handled with sensitivity, and to make a larger point about what a plague it is in our society. The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem does neither of these.
Showing sexual violence in a show for its own sake is particularly unsettling in an age when we have so much more knowledge and awareness about the dynamics of power that precede these attacks.
The ending completely derails the story that The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem was trying to tell. There is literally no reason for these last five minutes of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Season 1 Episode 10 to be included.
It was disappointing, to say the very least.
The ending is part of a broader problem with the show. The book is a highly sanitized version of Israeli history. The show really could have expanded on this and shown a complete picture of the formation of the State of Israel.
In particular, it would have been far more appropriate to show the people who would become known as the Palestinians as more than merchants, victims, or violent thugs. Such racist rhetoric continues to this day and causes irreparable damage.
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem was given a chance to rise above and tell a story to more accurately tell the story of a family in the midst of critical periods in Israel’s history.
Ultimately, while the series makes for a captivating period piece, it hasn’t yet fully lived up to its potential.
With the second half of Season 1 coming to Netflix in July, and the second season set to begin production in June, there’s still time for The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem to come together.
Stray Thoughts:
- The music is gorgeous.
- I can’t take my eyes off of the gorgeous makeup on everyone. Makeup artist Idit Reuveni outdid herself.
- Where is Tia Allegra? Seriously, that woman is the sassiest woman in the source material, and that’s saying something in a book filled to the brim with female sassiness.
- Also, no Becky?! Well, I guess there is maybe a Becky… there is another little girl who randomly appeared, who I can only assume is the third Ermoza sister.
- When I tell you I AM NOT READY for her story with Handsome Eli. It’s too much.
- The postpartum storyline with Rosa is handled so sensitively. In an era where there is still so much stigma around post-partum illnesses, it’s good to see shows set in different time periods address the fact that this is far from a new issue.
- I’m not really sure where they’re going with Gabriel’s opium use.
- The mentor/mentee relationship between Luna and her boss at the shop is adorable.
- The use of miniatures throughout the episodes is such a fun and interesting bit of storytelling and a completely different way to represent the setting of Jerusalem and Israel as a whole.
What did you think of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Season 1 Part 1? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Season 1 Part 1 is available to stream on Netflix.
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Israeli Drama ‘The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem’ Is Coming to Netflix
Justine Kraemer
Justine is an unashamed fan of too many TV shows and movies with a particular love of all things Marvel. She balances her love of massive massively popular shows with hidden gems that are just waiting to be discovered.
14 comments
I dislike all the characters – they are self-centered. The only interesting one is Rachelita. Most importantly, the omission of the political climate in Europe especially in the 30’s is ludicrous.
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem was one of the best series produced over the past seventy years.
The criticism of a fictional story based primarily on subjective opinions is always welcome. All have a finite ability to critique fiction, based on the fact that fact of one’s education and experiences.
In my humble opinion, a flawed art work is often a work of genius and so is the the acting. The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem appeals to our emotions and ultimately it leaves the best part of itself in all of us!
There’s only 1 Luna, SuperStar in The Making! The rest is semi enjoyable! period, end of story! Mama is A Riot!
This show sucked from beginning to end. The characters were dislikable not for their flaws but for their lousy acting and simplistic dialogue. I am really surprised that YES could produce something so poorly. I watched as I am typically a big fan of anything from Israel- but this was a fast forward clicker event for me. Why would Netflix green light this? Desperation I guess.
Taste and Sensibility might be the only person who thought less of the show than I did. My tag line from beginning to end was: “Horrible people doing horrible things.” There is literally only one likable character in the entire show – the nun Giselle who has a very small part. It would be nice to see her again, but that won’t save the show. I was particularly offended by the suggestion that anything like “honor killing” could take place among Ashkenazi Jews for ANY reason, much less for the reason given there. Michael Oren’s excellent review covers the historical deficiencies extremely well, and Michael Oren is fully qualified to do so. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/the-beauty-queen-jerusalem
The last scene kind of spoiled the show for me, it had no place in a soapy melodrama and indeed served no purpose than to show an ugly racist stereotype. I didn’t expect a particularly nuanced portrayal of the Jewish-Arab conflict in a show of this type but until then it hadn’t been terrible either.
There was also the implication Luna was traumatized as a child but then a few years later she’s a carefree teenager.
How disturbing and unnecessary was the last scene. I didn’t expect this terrible portrayal of Arab prejudice. The characters didn’t come together in any cohesive way that made sense. The jumping around on the timeline was confusing. I’m not sure this can be tied together. There are just too many parallel story lines.
You are all missing the point by viewing this as a universal theme (inter-ethnic violence). Look at the date of that rape scene and the Arab trashing of the town: 1929!! This was a major historical event in Israel that year, with vast political and cultural implications until today and the movie was just reflecting that. It is important for American to know something about the actual history, to actually learn something in school, before viewing everything in total ignorance through an American prism.
Couldn’t disagree more. This show is fabulous.
I am seriously disappointed. I find this movie shows Jewish women in a horrible light. Conniving, selfish, and downright dishonest. Great acting, but all these characters except for James and Matilda are vile.
How is this show getting so many positive reviews? Not a single likeable character, every one of them is self-centered and self-serving – no soul in this show at all.
The critiques of the rape scene want the show to be Disney in Jerusalem.
This is a reflection of continued PC revisionism. As Andrew says, the violent events of that week perpetrated by Arabs are absolutely necessary to portray. Unfortunately history does not conform to adolescent needs for sweetness and light.
The British officer’s accent is so hilariously inauthentic that it prevented my taking any of this nonsense seriously.
Enjoyed the series. The British accent of the British officer Charlie Parker was very poor. Some of his words were completely indistinguishable. Viewers unfamiliar with the history of the area might have found it confusing
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