Movie Review: Carole Kane Shines in Between the Temples

Between the Temples

Directed by Nathan Silver

Written by Nathan Silver

Starring Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane

Release Date August 22nd, 2024

Published January 9th, 2025

Between the Temples stars Jason Schwartzman as Ben Gottlieb, a Jewish Cantor struggling in the wake of the death of his famous author wife. Following her death, Ben has been unable to sing, a pretty big problem for a Cantor at a Synagogue whose job is to sing in Hebrew on a weekly basis. Nevertheless, his friends and family have been carrying him along for a while now on their goodwill. For now, Ben lives with his two moms, Judith and Meira Gottlieb (Dolly DeLeon and Caroline Aaron) who go out of their way to introduce Ben to single Jewish women to try and get him out of his funk.

With this established, enter the plot, pressed forward by Carla Kessler (Carol Kane). Carla meets Ben immediately after he’s been punched unconscious in a bar fight. She takes pity on him, buying him a drink and driving him home. The following day, Ben realizes that Carla is his former grade school music teacher. The following day, Carla shows up at the Synagogue to see how Ben is doing and talk to him about her Jewish heritage. Ben had no idea that Carla was Jewish and she admits that she hasn’t practiced in years and she’d like the chance to have a Bat Mitzvah.

Typically, it takes a year of studying the Torah before one can go through the ceremony of a Bat Mitzvah and this means Ben and Carla spending more time together, getting to know each other more, and as this happens, Ben starts to heal a little at a time. As things progress, it slowly becomes clear that Between the Temples is a highly unconventional romantic comedy with Jason Schwartzman falling in love with Carole Kane and Kane expressing insecurity and disbelief over this younger man’s attention. Meanwhile, Ben has an encounter with the daughter of his Rabbi, Gabby (Madeline Weinstein).

The relationship between Ben and Gabby might appear more appropriate only because they are closer to each other in age, but the relationship starts on a very unsteady note. It involves an erotic attraction and Ben’s late wife and it’s as uncomfortable as that implies. I don’t want to spoil it as this scene is an example of the deeply uncomfortable style of bleak comedy that appeals to writer-director Nathan Silver. Between the Temples is never laugh out loud funny but there is a jagged sense of humor running through most of the film.

Carol Kane steals the show as Carla. She’s such a sweetheart and via her kindness, warmth, and compassion, it’s not hard to see why any man would fall for her. As with everything in Between the Temples, the relationship between Carla and Ben is fraught with selfish motivations, desires, and questionable decisions made for questionable reasons. Is Ben genuinely attracted to Carla or is she merely the one person he’s met that his mother’s haven’t approved of, or arranged and she’s the rare person in his life that isn’t loosely connected to his tragic marriage.

Between the Temples is clever and quite watchable. Carol Kane has been floated as a potential Best Supporting Actress nominee, though that appears unlikely as we wind toward the end of the awards season, as I write this in early 2025. Kane is worthy of the buzz though, she’s the main reason to see Between the Temples. Kane has long been an actress capable of delivering awards level performances when she’s given good material and Between the Temples provides Kane with plenty of good material to make her own.

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