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The tale of Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor in Upstate New York, who is distraught by the untimely death of his wife, Rivkah. As he struggles to find solace in his religion, which proffers a stringent timeline for grief, Shmuel grows increasingly haunted by visions of Rivkah’s decomposing corpse. Convinced that her soul will suffer until her body returns to dust, Shmuel decides that to stop his feverish spiral he must seek an understanding of the physical processes of her decay - despite the blasphemy inherent in any scientific inquiry. Risking discovery and expulsion, Shmuel tip-toes outside his enclave, where his search leads to Albert, a bumbling biology professor at the local community college. Soon, Albert is unwittingly seduced into an odd world of homespun forensic research and begins to guide Shmuel through outrageous experiments that aim to approximate a timeline for Rivkah’s dissolution - starting with the theft, suffocation and burial of a pig. As amateur scientists practicing imperfect science and incompetent criminals on progressively absurd outings, the two find themselves neck-deep in genres in which neither of them belongs. With their macabre moonlit misadventures growing ever more perilous, the odd couple will stop at nothing to satiate their curiosity and ultimately find Shmuel the comfort he desperately seeks.
Original Release
02/08/2019
US Release
02/08/2019
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Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Géza Röhrig | Shmuel |
Matthew Broderick | Albert |
Sammy Voit | Naftali |
Sarah Jes Austell | Lab Receptionist |
Natalie Carter | Security Guard |
Bern Cohen | Reb Goshen |
Linda Frieser | Wake Goer |
Ben Hammer | Rebbe |
Leo Heller | Noam |
Marceline Hugot | Carol |
Directors
Writers
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Géza Röhrig | Shmuel |
Matthew Broderick | Albert |
Sammy Voit | Naftali |
Sarah Jes Austell | Lab Receptionist |
Natalie Carter | Security Guard |
Bern Cohen | Reb Goshen |
Linda Frieser | Wake Goer |
Ben Hammer | Rebbe |
Leo Heller | Noam |
Marceline Hugot | Carol |
Andrew Keenan-Bolger | Doctor |
Stephanie Kurtzuba | Receptionist |
Jill Marie Lawrence | Judy |
Larry Owens | Stanley |
Isabelle Phillips | Shprintzel |
Annie Pisapia | Patient |
Jaclyn S. Powell | Hasidic Jewess sitting shiva with Janet Sarno / Hasidic Jewess sitting shiva with Faigy |
Aaron Raksin | Sender |
Zalman Raksin | Brother-In-Law |
Reuven Russell | Hasidic Jew |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Joseph Siprut | Executive Producer |
David Boies | Executive Producer |
Jason Dreyer | Executive Producer |
David Gendron | Executive Producer |
Aaron L. Gilbert | Executive Producer |
Jonathan Gray | Executive Producer |
Ali Jazayeri | Executive Producer |
David Moscow | Executive Producer |
Anjay Nagpal | Executive Producer |
Todd Remis | Executive Producer |
Laura Rosenthal | Executive Producer |
David Stone | Executive Producer |
Jed Webber | Executive Producer |
Viviana Zarragoitia | Executive Producer |
Jason Begue | Producer |
Josh Crook | Producer |
Scott Floyd Lochmus | Producer |
Emily Mortimer | Producer |
Alessandro Nivola | Producer |
Ron Perlman | Producer |