Mystery at the Jerusalem YMCA pool drives Yehoram Gaon’s first film in nearly a decade

OCTOBER 30, 2026 21:02Updated: OCTOBER 30, 2026 21:05Amichai Greenberg’s Love, Statistically Speaking, which opened in theaters around Israel on Thursday, features iconic singer and actor Yehoram Gaon as a recently widowed actuary, obsessed with life expectancy statistics, whose outlook is transformed when he teams up with his granddaughter, an aspiring content creator played by rising star Meshi Kleinstein, to solve a mystery.Watching these two bring out the best in each other, despite some initial misunderstandings as they bridge the generation gap, is at the heart of this enjoyable comedy, which is set in and around the Jerusalem YMCA, where the Gaon character’s late wife was an enthusiastic swimmer.The plot revolves around how Reuven (Gaon) and Eden (Kleinstein) try to find out who stole a huge amount of cash from a locker at the pool that Reuven’s wife wanted to leave to Eden – and don’t ask why Reuven brought the money there in the first place. It’s also driven by Reuven’s terror that he is about to die soon, because according to the statistics that have ruled his thinking for decades, he has just seven months to live after losing his wife.For Greenberg, whose previous feature, The Testament, dealt with a very different kind of investigation – it was about a son who learns a secret about his mother’s Holocaust survival story – making audiences laugh and also touching their hearts was a challenge he wanted to take on.“I understood that it’s a real challenge to make a comedy like this here in Israel. There is this barrier: either you do the artistic film, or you do broad comedy, and it doesn’t mix. But I wanted to create something that could carry a message but would still be light. For me, as a creator, it was a challenge to explore those territories… I decided, Let’s not aim here for festivals. Let’s aim for the audience. Let’s do something that could speak to people.”'You need the chemistry,' director Amichai Greenberg says. With Gaon and Kleinstein, he could see it immediately. 'They really were happy with each other.' (credit: Vered Adir/Courtesy Nachshon Films)Greenberg, the rare Israeli director who lives in Jerusalem and comes from a Modern Orthodox background, said he came up with the story a few years after the deaths of his parents, while at the same time, he was the father to a 12-year-old.“The film explores this process of deciphering life, of distinguishing what truly matters from what does not… When the end of the ‘movie’ of your life comes into sharp focus, life takes on a new perspective, and what we see as significant shifts dramatically. It’s a lot like in a swimming pool: we discover that things that look beautiful and serene above the surface are, in fact, making absurd, frantic movements beneath it.”This idea is illustrated beautifully by footage of a synchronized swim team in a pool that is shown under the opening credits.Greenberg, who swims every day, was intrigued by the sense of community that develops among swimmers, all of which is heightened by the sometimes absurd situation of seeing each other nearly naked on a daily basis.The idea of making Reuven an actuary came to the director by chance. When he was stuck in traffic once, Greenberg heard an actuary speaking on the radio and was struck by the implications of a profession that uses numbers to predict what might happen to people.“It’s like a modern prophet, but just with numbers,” he said. “I wanted two people who are afraid of the unknowns of life. She is at the beginning of her story; he is nearing the end. Each conceals that fear differently, and their defenses initially keep them apart.”Greenberg said he could identify with their conflict because his father was an engineer, while he went to film school, the Ma’aleh School of Film and Television in Jerusalem, and he often found himself questioning his own choice.“It’s this thing of me asking myself, am I really doing something?” he said.One of his day jobs while he established himself in the movie business was as a computer programmer, which he discovered was more creative and satisfying than he would have imagined before he tried it. As he created Reuven, he looked back on this work to give him an insight into the character.The story began to come into focus more sharply when he cast Gaon in the lead. He said he likes to send potential collaborators his script and hear their ideas before completely formulating his own. When casting director Amira Buzaglo suggested Gaon for the lead, the director was taken aback.“I was completely floored,” he said. “I thought it would be brilliant.”Greenberg was surprised and grateful when Gaon signed on to appear in the film, his first in almost a decade. He took a similar approach to the other roles, and the cast includes Chelli Goldenberg, originally a model and the glamor girl of 1970s Israeli cinema, one-time children’s TV star Michal Yannai, and Shmuel Levy, who was in Schindler’s List, who brought even more nostalgic associations to the movie.The cast also features some of Israel’s most interesting character actors, among them Loai Nofi and Danna Semo, in key roles.Finding a young actress to play against Gaon’s legendary star power was more challenging. Greenberg wanted someone funny, but who could also convey vulnerability. The character of the granddaughter is working as a waitress abroad, hoping to hit it big as a content creator, and bases her look on Amy Winehouse.But at first, her grandfather can only see her as someone who lacks focus. She rejects his criticism of her life choices, which makes their gradual bonding all the more satisfying to watch.“You need the chemistry,” Greenberg said. With Gaon and Kleinstein, he could see it immediately. “They really were happy with each other.”Challenges and moving forwardGreenberg cited Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery as an inspiration for Love, Statistically Speaking. “I wanted that kind of domestic investigation. She suspects their neighbor of killing his wife, but it’s really the story of their marriage. I liked the idea of a domestic investigation that represents a gap in relationships. It’s the same idea here. The story isn’t the money. The story is the relationship.”Writing during the COVID restrictions, Greenberg found he was inspired by these restrictions. “I took it as a creative challenge. I said: I’ll only shoot in locations within 300 meters of my home. I was living in the middle of Ben Maimon Street, near Adraba, the bookstore. All the locations in the film are within 300 meters of my previous apartment.”He is currently working on a prequel to the film. “It’s set five years earlier, when his wife is alive. It’s their story. She wants a divorce. There’s a flower shop in a small neighborhood shopping center, and he’s in touch with the florist. Suddenly the florist disappears. He thinks something has happened to him. Everyone thinks he’s distracting himself from the fact that his wife wants a divorce, but the florist really has disappeared.”He said he was also working on a more personal story, about a yeshiva student who is inspired to help a woman thousands of miles away, which was inspired by a real incident in his life. “It sets him off on a journey through Israeli society: the army, South America, coming back. He tries to find God in reality. It’s a story of faith and the cracks along the way.”In a strange way, it sounds like it could also be a description of Love, Statistically Speaking.Follow us on Google