Shame, Disgust, and the Female Body: Amos Gitaï’s Kadosh
“Look at the laws of menstruation. They’re forbidden to touch us! We sully everything.” This line is spoken by Malka (Meital Barda), one of the two protagonists of Amos Gitaï’s 1999 Hebrew film, Kadosh. Both Malka and her sister Rivka (Yaël Abecassis) live within the rigorously constructed boundaries of a haredi (ultra orthodox) enclave in the heart of Jerusalem. It is a community founded on, and organized by, the laws of the Talmud as interpreted by male scholars. In Kadosh, patriarchal rules regarding menstruation, sex, and reproduction govern the female body and constitute it as a source of shame and disgust.
This paper seeks to articulate the way in which shame and disgust, as psychoanalytic phenomenon, are useful tools through which to examine Gitai’s film, and the community from which it is drawn. Understanding the way in which shame and disgust facilitate the direction of the narrative requires an understanding of the complexities of these affects as well as the religious and social rituals to which these affects are tied. The outcome of the narrative can be understood not only in the context of the unique convergence of ritual and psychoanalysis, but also in the way in which the reception of shame and disgust are ultimately subverted by the two protagonists.
This paper utilizes a diversity of theoretical works, ranging from Freud and Silvan Tomkins, to contemporary theorists such as Sarah Ahmed and Judith Butler. Specific sources from the Talmud are also explored, as they illustrate the genesis of many of the phenomenon around which this film centers.
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