Israeli movie director Shlomi Elkabetz says thinking about politics is “a recipe for a bad film.” It’s a testament, then, to the power of his new film, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, that it has become a political sensation in Israel, forcing policy-makers to talk about the ancient law that gives men the upper hand in divorce trials. According to traditional Jewish law—which still governs all Jewish marriages in Israel—a marriage can only be dissolved by a court of rabbis, and a woman can’t get a divorce until her husband gives his full consent by signing over a gett. Elkabetz's film, which he directed with his sister Ronit (who also stars as the title character), follows one woman’s exhausting multi-year quest to obtain a gett from her stubborn husband.

Viviane, we learn, was born into a religious family and engaged to the pious Elisha as a teenager. Twenty years later, they’re barely on speaking terms, and Viviane, no longer religious, wants her independence. Yet Elisha can’t accept that their marriage is over. He begs her to come back. He refuses to show up in court. And no matter how poorly Elisha behaves, the burden is always on Viviane—to prove that she’s tried to make her marriage work and to convince the rabbis that they must in turn persuade her husband to grant her a gett.

Gett, which is the final installment of the Elkabetzes’ trilogy about Viviane, was nominated for “Best Foreign Language Film” at the Golden Globes and selected as Israel’s entry at the Oscars.

I met the Elkabetzes on Monday at the Regency Hotel. Like the characters in the film, they abruptly switch back and forth between different languages. Ronit speaks sometimes through a Hebrew translator; other times, she responds directly in English. Her English is peppered with French. She wears a floor-length dress and several gold necklaces; despite the fact that we’re inside, she periodically puts on, and takes off, a pair of sunglasses. Shlomi picks at a packet of American Spirit tobacco as the conversation gets going.

Alice Robb: Have you been surprised by the response you’ve gotten?