Simon and Theodore

The title’s focus on the two male leads suggests the film’s main theme is the range of possible forms of manhood. That understanding Theodore’s mother shows him and Simon’s wife him. 

The two men have a symmetry. Simon eagerly awaits the birth of his son, hoping that will lead him into balance and maturity. Theodore undertakes a bar mitzvah — the ritual of becoming a man — in hopes of reuniting with the Jewish father who abandoned him and his mother Edith just after his birth.  

Where Simon has been hospitalized for beating up on himself, Theodore is in trouble for fighting at school. Both have difficulty expressing themselves, connecting to others, controlling their impulses and handling their anger. Both are emotionally disturbed, Theodore afflicted with Teenage and Simon with an odd, guilt-free brain disease. In one dark night of the souls, under the pressure of their respective urgent needs they manage to help each other.  

In a comic replay of the theme, Edith’s work colleague removes his ostensibly macho moustache in hopes of attracting her. It works, but mainly because of the care and commitment he shows when he comes to the hospital after work to check on her and on Simon’s wife’s delivery. He quietly demonstrates the manly virtues Simon and Theodore need.

But the women establish their own symmetry, making humanity trump manhood. Edith is a security guard, Rivka a rabbi, a neat parallel.  Theodore tricks her into preparing him for the bar mitzvah by claiming he has his parents’ approval and they will attend. We see little of the congregation’s dynamic, just the solicitous elder Aaron, but our sense is that the woman rabbi is wholly accepted, even with her feral husband. Outside the synagogue, the Jewish-Gentile distinction is there but not a point of conflict or emphasis. They're part of the same social web. 

The film’s climax involves parallel suspensions of a law. If Edith’s not being Jewish would normally disqualify Theodore from a bar mitzvah, his preparation has given him a focus, a new support and at least the hope of reconnecting with his father. 

Through Theodore, Rivka meets Edith, which ends up facilitating her son’s birth. Through Rivka, Simon meets Theodore which facilitates the meetings with the one’s father and the other’s son. More importantly, when Rivka finds herself assuring Edith that "Simon would rather die than hurt your son," she discovers her own confidence in Simon as the functional father of her child.

Theodore’s outlaw spirit prompts Rivka and Edith to break the hospital rules so Simon in the psych ward can meet and hold his new son. So rules, whether religious or institutional, may sometimes have to be broken in the interests of helping people. Humanity should trump legalism.

In the comic replay of the women’s relationship, waitress Caroline has to deal with Simon and Theodore when they can’t pay for their dinner. When they offer to work it off, the dishwasher scolds their encroachment on his job. “Next time just dine and dash like the others do.” By calling Theodore’s father, Simon saves Caroline from having to pay their bill — and gives the dad the chance at last to do something for his abandoned son — as well as for his effective replacement, Simon.
        Despite those careful parallels, the film never seems schematic. It’s a fresh, very original drama with heart, emotion and a healthy respect for human irregularity. If it focuses on a particular religion its overriding value is the unspoken yiddish term, Mentshlichkeit. Humanity.