There are few films like Between the temples. Now in theaters, it’s a brilliant and distinctly Jewish comedy.
Written and directed by Nathan Silver, the film follows Ben (Jason Schwartzman), a depressed cantor who can’t do much after the death of his wife. Hopelessness looms when he moves back in with his mother (played by Dolly De Leon and Caroline Aaron) and rarely goes out. And when he does, he usually makes people angry, like when he gets punched in the face at a bar. But when he meets Carla (Carol Kane), everything changes.
Carla wants to fulfill a lifelong dream and finally attend a bat mitzvah, a traditional Jewish coming of age ceremony. She is Ben’s childhood music teacher, and although he initially refuses, he agrees to help her and the two form an unlikely friendship that develops into something much more serious. “I think the character of Carla gives him something,” Schwartzman said of Ben. “What makes their relationship so special is that these two characters don’t need permission, they give each other permission to live.”
Schwartzman and Kane spoke to The Daily Beast’s Obsessed via Zoom about their remarkable on-screen chemistry, the joy of working together, creating their unique characters, and filming the most stressful dinner party scene you’ve ever seen.
It’s immediately clear in the interview that Schwartzman and Kane admire each other greatly. When I joined the Zoom call, they were discussing Jason’s plaid shirt, and her voice sounded remarkably warm. When Kane started talking about working with Schwartzman, she immediately became emotional: “I’m going to cry. I just love him. I felt complete trust,” Kane said. “If anything, the hardest part was right at the beginning: my character’s reluctance to have anything to do with Carla. It’s hard not to just do what Carol wants!” Schwartzman joked.
The two have admired each other’s work for ages. Kane burst into Hester Street In 1975, she received an Oscar nomination and has since had a successful career in film and television, including major roles in taxi, The Prince’s BrideAnd Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Schwartzman made his debut in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore and has starred in seven other Anderson films; in 2023, he was the most watched actor according to Letterboxd users. Between the temples was their first opportunity to work together.
“Carol is so easy to work with. She always listens; her heart is like an ear,” Schwartzman explained. “I think the same of you! Although I could never have expressed it like that,” Kane replied. “We started with sympathy and respect, which turned into trust, and from that developed into a very comfortable and natural relationship for us,” Kane said. “The relationship that was shown in the film seemed to me to be a perfect fit. Like finding the perfect shoes.”
When working with her, Schwartzman noticed one thing about Kane as an actress: she pays attention to every detail. There’s a scene in the film where Schwartzman gets a character to look down for a second and Kane immediately responds, “Are you listening?” “It’s such a wonderful moment because her character is a teacher, and a teacher is sensitive to people. Carla – and Carol – are great teachers,” Schwartzman said.
Carla is the first clearly Jewish character Kane has played in some time; her Oscar-nominated role in Hester Street was Gitl, an Orthodox Jew who had recently emigrated to America from Russia. Hester StreetI had to speak Yiddish and Hebrew, so I had the experience of learning with the trainer to immerse myself in a completely different world.” During Hester Street was not their main concern, Between the templesKane brings everything from her past to every present challenge. “Gitl definitely informed Carla, even if it wasn’t intentional,” Kane said.
Instead, Kane turned to director Silver’s films about his mother, from whom Between the temples based loosely. This led her to use her own mother as inspiration. She spoke of her mother, Joy Kane, in a hushed, amazed voice: “My mother fought against her fear and insecurity and did incredible things. At 55, she changed her whole life. She moved to Paris, began teaching in France and became a master teacher of Dalcroze eurythmy and jazz improvisation – and then she did it again at 75 when she returned to America after 20 years.”
Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane
Sony Picture Classics
Although her character Carla didn’t physically move away from her old home, she was mentally and emotionally driven to do something she had wanted her entire life – a Bat Mitzvah – but was always told she shouldn’t and couldn’t. Kane was inspired by her mother’s bravery when creating Carla, who pushes herself: “It’s now or never; I have to do it.”
Schwartzman, who is used to playing more mannered characters, had a very different challenge with Ben. “He’s gloomy, he’s ponderous,” he said. “He’s lost a lot of his faith. He’s trying to figure out how to live in the present. He’s just foggy to the point of being stuck.”
The character initially seems like a total loser who has given up on life and has no direction. To emphasize this feeling, Silver gave Schwartzman a way to express it physically. “One thing Nathan suggested, which was a first for me, was to try to slow down the character’s pace. He says something like, ‘Slow down, slow down.’ He walks very slowly. It’s as if Ben’s movements are saying, ‘What’s the rush? We’re not going anywhere,'” says Schwartzman. “It can only go down,” Kane chimes in.
Speaking of doom, you won’t find a more chaotic or stressful scene in the cinema this year than a pivotal dinner party scene towards the end of the film. It’s an uneasy mix of high anxiety and comedy – a difficult balancing act, but one that’s beautifully executed. But getting it right was a huge challenge.
“I had no idea what was going on!” Kane joked. “Everyone had their own idea of what direction it was going to go in. And then Jason came up with this brilliant idea with the phone, and that really brought us together.”
This confusion is understandable – a lot is happening at this dinner party. Ben has invited Carla to his mother’s house and they will soon meet her for the first time. He has fallen in love with Carla, although no one else knows it. The same goes for the rabbi’s daughter, Gabbi (Madeline Weinstein), who comes with her parents and believes the dinner party is just an attempt to confirm this. her relationship with Ben – and it is. In a whirlwind of overlapping dialogue, it’s difficult to tell who’s saying what, and conversations revolve around others. In the scene, Jason’s character Ben starts a game of Chinese whispers that goes awry when he turns it into an opportunity to make a statement.
Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane
Sony Picture Classics
“It was very hectic and chaotic and at the same time insecure and bossy. But I think that phone thing somehow brought us together,” Kane said.
“The other thing that’s fun about this scene is how they played with the sound. Often in movies, when you’re not on camera, you don’t make as much noise as the people on camera,” said Schwartzman. Not so with the dinner scene in Between the temples. Silver encouraged everyone to talk and have their own conversations, saying the camera would find them at the right moment.
“In other words, when I saw the movie, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s what they were talking about at the other end of the table!'” Schwartzman said. “Nobody made room for anyone else. It really felt like a real dinner.”
The result, how many Between the templesis dazzling. Its energy is feverish and frightening. As with any real dinner party, and as Schwartzman and Kane proved together, there is no way to predict who will say what or what will happen.
