Named for the Jewish ritual of preparing a body for burial, and set at a funeral, “Tahara” is an intelligent teen comedy about a close female friendship on the brink. Carrie (Madeline Grey DeFreece) and Hannah (Rachel Sennott of “Shiva Baby,” another dark comedy that takes place at a Jewish mourning ceremony) know each other so well they can communicate just by furrowing their brows or narrowing their eyes. However, after a long day at the synagogue, they’re forced to finally acknowledge that there has always been a power imbalance in their relationship, one they may not be able to navigate anymore.
Mostly shot in the squarish 4:3 aspect ratio — which just emphasizes the insularity of Carrie and Hannah’s friendship, and how suffocating their day at the synagogue turns out to be — “Tahara” is a lean 77 minutes of inside jokes, crushing betrayals, sweeping fantasies, and mixed signals. It’s a movie that understands the heady love two young women can share as much as the vitriol they can expertly wield against one another.
Carrie and Hannah are attending the funeral of Samantha, a queer classmate who died by suicide. Carrie is under the impression that neither she nor Hannah knew or liked Samantha all that much, but is shocked to learn that her bestie has a history with the deceased. The fact that Hannah kept a secret from her rocks Carrie’s world a bit — and things get even more charged when Hannah, wanting to be prepared if her dream comes true and her crush Tristan (Daniel Taveras) finally notices her, asks Carrie to help her practice her kissing skills. Carrie obliges, and suddenly everything and nothing makes sense about her relationship with her best friend.
Unfortunately, Carrie doesn’t have the chance to process her emotions. She, Hannah, and the rest of their Hebrew school class have to attend a “Teen Talk-back” session, a forum where they use the tenets of Judaism to discuss Samantha’s death. Between a group of girls who are performatively sobbing, a kid who thinks this is as good a time as any to get high, and a not-particularly-sensitive teacher, this goes about as well as you’d expect. Carrie trying to make Hannah jealous, Hannah’s increasingly ridiculous attempts at getting Tristan’s attention, and both girls’ confusion — Carrie’s over her feelings for her friend, Hannah’s over why Carrie is being so weird — only drive the class further off track.
The feature debut of both director Olivia Peace and screenwriter Jess Zeidman, “Tahara” is probably best described as a tragic farce. On a day that is supposed to be about paying respect to Samantha, a lonely girl who couldn’t see an escape from her sadness, Carrie, Hannah, and the rest of their classmates are thinking primarily of themselves. But you can’t really judge them for it because, well, weren’t we all that solipsistic as teenagers? At the same time, this is also the day that Carrie has discovered something crucial about her sexuality — which is thrilling, and a little scary, and also tinged with melancholy. After all, the object of her affections may not feel the same way.
Both Peace and Zeidman describe themselves as queer, the former is Black, and the latter is Jewish — and I feel confident that these aspects of their identities informed “Tahara’s” unsparing honesty and authenticity, especially as they pertain to Carrie’s character and Samantha’s backstory. (The film was even shot at Temple Beth El in Rochester, NY, Zeidman’s childhood synagogue.) The day of Samantha’s funeral is the day things change between Carrie and Hannah forever. As painful and awkward as it is, it’s a day I want to return to.
“Tahara” is now in theaters.
