The Policeman’s Wife 2013

Officer Avraham Azoulay is a patrolman in Tel Aviv’s district of Jaffa who stands out for his honesty and a striking level of naivety. For two decades he has worn the uniform with unwavering persistence, yet despite years of service, he has never risen beyond his current rank. The film follows him through the everyday drama of a life that feels static on the surface, even as he quietly navigates moments of moral complexity and human warmth beneath it.

Azoulay is married to a rather uneventful woman, a relationship that lacks passion and children to fill it out. His superiors, Captain Levkovich and First Sergeant Bejerano, decide not to renew his contract, even though they feel a twinge of sympathy for the man who has always played by the rules. The professional setback is significant, but it does not erase Azoulay’s capacity for gentleness or his unexpected social finesse. These traits become most evident in his romantic entanglement with Mimi, a simple yet charming prostitute. In a moment that reveals both his tenderness and his stubborn adherence to duty, he removes her photograph from the arrests billboard, an act that signals a brief, dangerous longing for a life that could be more than his official one.

When his wife discovers the photo and tears it to pieces, Azoulay quietly repairs the damage, reassembling the torn image in a gesture that speaks to his belief in keeping fragile pieces of life intact, even when they are damaged. Yet this personal struggle never fully resolves in his favor. He refuses to divorce his wife, insisting that such an act would “destroy her.” This line—delivered with the quiet gravity that characterizes the film’s moral centers—highlights the tension between personal longing and the commitments that define his world. And because he is a Kohen, he cannot marry a prostitute under Halakha, a detail that adds a layer of religious duty to the ethical calculus he faces.

Azoulay’s professional instincts are not blunted by his romantic yearnings. He proves adept at de-escalating tense situations, drawing on Bible knowledge and Yiddish to calm crowds without violence. His charisma also endears him to outsiders, such as a visiting group of French police who respond warmly to him, and he speaks with surprising fluency and facility in Arabic when he addresses an Arab-speaking club, unaware of the impression he makes. Through these episodes, the film portrays Azoulay as someone who sees people for who they are, rather than simply reacting to the roles they occupy.

Despite these strengths, Azoulay’s career remains imperiled. The decision to let him go is not reversed by his small triumphs. In a surprising turn of events, he befriends Amar, a figure who is secretly involved in criminal activity. Unbeknownst to Azoulay, Amar and his associates hatch a plan to stage a crime that would enable Azoulay to catch them in the act, thereby earning a promotion and securing renewed contract terms. The plan escalates into a heist targeting ritual objects, including a large golden cross, stolen from a nearby monastery. The criminals’ scheme is bold, and Azoulay’s participation in catching them is framed as a morally upright act that nonetheless remains a product of flawed circumstances.

The culmination of the story sees Azoulay catching the criminals mid-crime and receiving the long-awaited promotion to sergeant. Yet the system still refuses to renew his contract, forcing him to retire from the police force in a quiet, almost understated moment that feels both bitter and resolute. In the film’s final scene, Azoulay exits the precinct in his new rank while fellow officers in the courtyard practice marches. They are ordered to salute in his direction, and he salutes them back, with tears welling in his eyes. The image of the man who believes he is being honored by those around him—only to realize the salute is a gesture of respect from a system that has not fully accommodated him—has lingered long in the memory of Israeli cinema.