With “That Lovely Girl” (originally titled “Away From His Absence,” like the novel it’s based upon), the helmer returns to the more minimal intensity of her freshman work, yet her characters are defined only by their psychological deformities – Moshe as monster, Tammy as traumatized victim. Yedaya’s superior debut feature, “Or,” featured another kind of dysfunctional family, involving a teen girl and her prostitute mother the follow-up, “Jaffa,” was less about the dynamics of parents and children, though still concerned with family power plays.
Such thoughts remain unaddressed as Tammy ping-pongs between Daddy and her new protector, unable to break away from her codependency. Surely the word “die,” which Tammy carved on her own arm, should have given Shuli enough pause to consider that maybe she’s a little out of her depth here.
Who is Shuli? Does she have a job, or a life other than one devoted to this young woman she’s just met on the beach? Given the obvious lesbian overtones, including penetrating gazes and body language, audiences are led to think that Tammy is fated to be yet another victim of exploitation - it would have been a more interesting twist than the one Yedaya takes, of a selfless woman trying to break Tammy free from her abusive father. Fortunately, Shuli (Yael Abecassis), a stranger, calms her down and takes her home, allowing her to stay the night and tending to her latest batch of self-mutilations. With all the new activity, Tammy loses her purse and becomes distraught. When he brings his new g.f., Iris (Tal Ben-Bina), to Passover dinner, Tammy sulks and finally runs away to the beach, where she lets four guys have sex with her. Later he scolds her for getting fat: She cries, so to make her feel better, he roughly takes her from behind before leaving again. Daddy returns, bandages the wounds, and treats it all like a minor nuisance.
While he’s out, she binges and vomits, then pulls out an X-acto knife to add further cuts to her heavily self-scarred limbs.
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