Synopsi

Marek Hlasko was propelled into international fame as a young writer and intellectual rebel at the beginning of his twenties. Having the first film he wrote in Cannes in 1958, Marek gave many interviews against the Communists and was promptly exiled from Poland.

      Since he can’t go back to Poland, in a bout of vodka infused self-destructive decision making he decides to accept a job offer in Tel-Aviv. Quickly discovering, however, that loss of one’s country is a loss of one’s identity and the writer’s block is immediate. Since he can’t even write a single paragraph he sinks rapidly down to the very lowest class of Tel-Aviv holocaust survivors- hookers and pimps. Being in the worst place for him is where he finally finds his inspiration for some of his best stories.

The chronicle of Marek’s years in Israel is spliced in the film with a story that he did manage to write after he left the country. Characters in Marek’s story are becoming mirror characters in the adapted story, and the storylines merge to one as we understand that Jacob, the protagonist of the adapted story, is actually what would become out of Marek Hlasko if his Israeli time would last longer. 

   In the adapted story Jacob and Grisha are two unemployed migrant artists who become con men. They’re planning to run a scam on an American rich woman visiting the country. What follows is a story of love, deception, cruelty, and shame, as Jacob and the American tend to really fall in love with each other.