Holy Lands

For other uses, see Holy Land (disambiguation).

Holy Lands is a 2017 comedy-drama film written and directed by Amanda Sthers and starring James Caan, Tom Hollander, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Rosanna Arquette, Efrat Dor and Patrick Bruel.^[2][3] It is based on Sthers' novel Les Terres saintes.^[1]

Holy Lands
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Amanda Sthers
Screenplay by	Amanda Sthers
Based on	Les Terres saintes by Amanda Sthers
Produced by	Laurent Bacri Didier Lupfer Alain Pancrazi
Starring	James Caan Tom Hollander Jonathan Rhys Meyers Rosanna Arquette Efrat Dor Patrick Bruel
Cinematography	Regis Blondeau[1]
Edited by	Nadia Ben Rachid[1]
Music by	Grégoire Hetzel
Distributed by	StudioCanal
Release date	June 17, 2017 (2017-06-17) (United Kingdom)
Running time	100 minutes
Countries	France Belgium
Language	English

Plot

Facing a crossroads in life, American Jewish retired cardiologist Harry Rosenmerck leaves New York and his family with an unlikely plan to start a pig farm in Nazareth, causing the anger of local communities. His conflict with the town Rabbi, Moshe Cattan slowly turns into a friendship that leads him to reevaluate his relationship with his estranged family, including his difficult ex-wife, his 34-year-old student daughter, and his playwright son David. Through an emotional journey, this dysfunctional group will try to make their way back to each other, renewing ties when they all need it the most.

Cast

• James Caan as Harry
• Tom Hollander as Moshe
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers as David
• Rosanna Arquette as Monica
• Efrat Dor as Annabelle
• Patrick Bruel as Michel

Production

The film was shot in Israel and Belgium.^[4]

Reception

The film has a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[5] Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com awarded the film one and a half stars.^[6] Trevor Johnston of Radio Times awarded the film two stars out of five.^[7]

Accolades

The film won awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the Downtown Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2018.^[8]