No one should be judged by the way they act on their worst day. But the most disastrous of situations often prompt the starkest actions, compelling a person who might ordinarily not be inclined to respond emphatically to do so when the stakes are high and there are no other options. Our Loves begins when its characters believe that they’re at their lowest only to throw something wholly unexpected and irreversible at them, extracting hope from a place of desolation and highlighting the resilience of the human spirit.
On October 6th, 2023, a handful of individuals are hardly at their best. Shabi (Shalom Michaelshvili) can see his children, including his daughter Liri (Noa Cohen), pulling away as the custody battle with his ex-wife becomes fiercer and anything but civil. Milly (Magi Azarzar) is struggling with whether she should come out to her traditional mother (Evelin Hagoel) and introduce her long-term girlfriend Sandra (Hadas Yaron). Sapir (Daniel Gimpel) is distraught when her engagement is called off and she worries about being a pariah in her religious community. Nicco (Yaniv Bitton) is preparing for a shift working security at the Nova music festival, unaware of what awaits him and the entire country of Israel the next morning.
Writer-director Avi Nesher returns to the Toronto International Film Festival after five of his films have previously shown there with something that feels very much of the current moment. The impact of the events of October 7th, now approaching a third anniversary, has been deep not only within the country itself but also around the world as public opinion has been largely shaped against the Israel response to those deadly attacks. Nesher insists that this isn’t a film about October 7th or anything to do with politics, but rather a human story that looks at how people are when they think things can’t possibly get any worse.
Nesher creates an intriguing web of characters who are tangentially related and whose lives will intersect more as a rapidly evolving situation in which communication is far from clear unfolds. There are scenes that find characters, who Nesher describes as being based on or amalgams of real people, running from indiscriminate gunfire and seemingly inescapable situations. Viewer discretion is advised for those who may rightly find those moments upsetting, but the emphasis is on the positivity of connection and the power of love to almost supernaturally guide people through the most harrowing of scenarios.
Each of these characters is defined primarily by the work they do, and in turn how that molds their approach to the world around them. Milly is most concerned with projecting an unflappable and unimpeachable image of authority, but she’s just as careful to remain buttoned up in the presence of her mother, despite Sandra’s determination to scientifically prepare an impressive culinary presentation. Shabi, dejected as a father whose children want little to do with him, shifts immediately into commando mode when he’s forced to take a trio of entirely unqualified young volunteer soldiers with him to fight an enemy of unknown strength. Nicco is committed to his work but also just a regular person with ordinary relationships and friendships, called to put himself at extraordinary risk to save others when danger is nearby.
Among the most compelling of these stories is the one that features the film’s lone Ophir Israeli Oscar acting nominee, Gimpel. Sapir dresses modestly and seems devoted to her religious lifestyle, and a night out in a place that is clearly not comfortable for her evolves into something she couldn’t have imagined that tests her faith. Gimpel is terrific but Nesher’s writing is just as strong, treating a delicate subject with respect and just the right infusion of a bit of humor. Set against the most serious and devastating of backdrops, Our Loves is a sensitive and affirming film about what brings people together that deserves to be seen by a wide audience without any preconceptions about what Israeli cinema might look like and be.
Movie Rating: 8/10
Our Loves makes its world premiere in the Centrepiece section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
