Director Shemi Zarhin – photo by Ella Barak
He is a chameleon actor of film, stage and small screen. Whether playing Egyptian band leader, Lt. Col.Tawfiq Zacharya (“The Band’s Visit”); the scheming often comedic, Nuchem in “Shtisel” and“Kugel”); undercover Mossad agent, The Owl (“Tehran”) or the heart-of-gold everyman, Sassi in “Bliss” (Hemda), Sasson Gabay totally inhabits all his characters.
Shemi Zarhin one of Israel’s most vital writer-directors and novelists, delicately guides us through “Bliss” the sweet, sometimes heart -wrenching family saga. Sassi (Sasson Gabay) and his younger wife, Effi an aquatic therapist, (Asi Levi,) are both working gruelling multiple jobs to help his gambling addicted son who has absconded to Brussels to avoid criminal creditors.
When casting for “Bliss” the two lead actors and director had worked together before in the 2006 film, “Aviva, My Love” and so their on-screen chemistry was already established. “Shemi said ‘the frame of you and Asi together – I yearn for it again’”, Gabay relates. “He actually approached me eight years before we shot it with the script. It was shot before October 7th and I fell in love with it,” Gabay explains. It’s so rare that you see a script about older people – they’re not celebrities or young- just their daily struggle of life,” he adds.
In English the word bliss means absolute happiness but “Hemda” the title of the film in Hebrew, means deep yearning and desire. So if “Bliss” is the end result and “Hemda” is the journey, I asked Gabay which was more important to him?
“It sounds beautiful, the way you put it,” he says. “Sassi in the film says ‘what’s left in life if you can’t yearn for something you don’t have or desire or fantasize about?’”
“Well bliss is intangible – it can last for seconds and slip out of your fingers. But the yearning is the journey and this film is about the journey of this couple to maintain a big and beautiful life even with all its obstacles. So for me, the journey is more important.”
Asi Levi and Sasson Gabay in a scene from “Bliss” photo by Vered Adir
One of the incessant themes in “Bliss” is guilt, how it disrupts the family dynamic especially when it involves children: “Guilt is one of the major emotions that people live with one way or another and each one of us experiences how guilt is born in their soul,” Gabay explains. “Some of us can overcome the psychological knot but in Jewish society it’s difficult and even more so in Israeli society. To generalize, I think it’s gone too far. I think you have to let kids know we are there for them if they need us but it doesn’t mean you have to pay their debts (as in “Bliss”) Also, why did the character of Effi take all this upon her shoulders? It was because of love. It’s just not right that my grandson (played by the charming Maor Levi,) “feels guilty over the responsibilities of his father.”
It’s food that often brings the whole family together – of course we’re Jewish!
“Shemi always has food scenes in his films and even some of his books have recipes. In fact, Shemi is a wonderful cook so before the shoot, he made a workshop and we spent about three hours making dumplings!” Gabay laughs. “I love to read about food and eat. In the scene where we are preparing the dumplings, it’s like a tango dance and tells everything about Sassi and Effi’s love without words. They are like two musical instruments playing together.”
With his deeply expressive face and fluency in six languages, Gabay’s versatility ensures he is in constant demand. “Of course we like to be popular and loved, it’s part of our business, but my aim when I work is to do things I appreciate, that I love to do and the audience can relate to,” he explains.
“And by the way, I came back to my young audience recently because I just finished three weeks of three shows a day of the musical “Peter Pan” at The Opera House in Tel Aviv and I played Captain Hook, a role I originally played 38-years-ago. I loved it because I was allowed to improvise unlike in films where you have to be very precise.”
“And, I have another scoop for you. We are going to film another season of “Kugel” next year!”
