What would you do if you were a successful filmmaker and meet someone who was inspired by your decade old movie and awakens something in you that you thought long gone?

“Losing Alice” is an Israeli psychological thriller directed by female director Sigal Avin (known for erotic thrillers).

It is inspired by “Mulholland Drive,” “Twin Peaks,” “All About Eve” and François Ozon’s “Swimming Pool.” 

In Sigal Avin’s own words :

“It shows the way women are these days. We sort of have to juggle between the life we want and what we have. And the idea of being in a certain place in your life where you seem to have everything, but have a passion to express yourself, and then along comes this creature who ignites a fire underneath you. If you can feed off them, then what happens to you morally? That speaks to me a lot. It’s unique in the sense of presenting women who go for what they want, and are unapologetic about that.”

“Body image and voyeurism form a big part of this series. Alice is not happy with her body in the beginning, while Sophie’s body is constantly on display. And curiously, a lot of people answer the door in their underwear.”

Alice Ginor (Ayelet Zurer) is a successful filmmaker who has taken some time away from her work to raise a family. For too long, her talent has atrophied as she took paycheck gigs, like directing yogurt commercials, so that she could raise a family with her movie-star husband, David (Gal Toren).

One day her lust for life comes back, when she becomes engaged in conversation with an up-and-coming writer named Sophie (Lihi Kornowski). Sophie recognizes Alice as she sits across from her on a train and uses the seemingly chance encounter to tell her what a fan she is by pointing out Alice’s decade-old famous film was formative for her.

Alice sees in Sophie her younger self.

In Ayelet Zurer’s own words :

“For me, what I really, really liked about it is there’s such a complex relationship between women. There’s an attraction, a sense of wanting to be fed by someone. It’s almost like, metaphorically, an animal feeding off another animal. Artistically she’s young and Alice is in such a place that Sophie brings the structure of youth and freedom.”

When Alice, David and Sophie work together on her new movie, they get caught up in “a passion triangle of success and maybe self-fulfillment”.

Alice’s path is the hardest one.

“What do you do when you realize that is where you are and what is the process of awakening and What is the price you have to pay for the awakening and also the ability to do what you want to do?”

Sophie reignites the creative spark in Alice that inspires her to get back on set in the first place, but soon suspicions begin to arise in the director’s mind about this young woman’s inspirations, motivations and background. Alice throws herself into directing Sophie’s dramatic script about a young woman who kills herself when she learns her best friend is sleeping with her father, but she also begins to investigate Sophie on the side.

“We, as women, have to be perfect in some ways: great moms and also great at work and look nice, and there’s a sense of, ‘You have to be all of it.’ But can you? The question is, can you have it all?”

“We, as women, have to be perfect in some ways: great moms and also great at work and look nice, and there’s a sense of, ‘You have to be all of it.’ But can you? The question is, can you have it all?”

“Losing Alice” is an act of survival.

“Losing Alice” streams on Apple TV.

Watch the trailer :

Sources :

https://variety.com/2021/tv/features/losing-alice-ayelet-zurer-female-director-thriller-1234885089/