Lévy and Goliath

Lévy and Goliath (original title: Lévy et Goliath) is a 1987 French comedy directed by Gérard Oury, who co-wrote the screenplay with Danièle Thompson. The film follows two brothers, Albert (Michel Boujenah) and Moïse (Richard Anconina) Lévy, who come from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Antwerp but have stopped speaking to each other. Albert left his family for Paris, where he opened a non-kosher café and married Brigitte, a non-Jewish woman. Moïse, by contrast, scrupulously observes Jewish rites and customs, married according to the strictest rules, and only leaves his community when his trade as a diamond cutter requires it; he occasionally speaks with God, who appears to him amid smoke and shrill sounds. Their estranged relationship is upended when they cross paths with Goliath (Maxime Leroux), a garage owner who also deals drugs. In the comic tradition of Oury's earlier films, the story plays on clashes of identity, faith and culture as the brothers are reluctantly drawn back into each other's lives.