New Jewish murder mystery gets rave reviews

It’s unfortunate that critics praising a TV series with a Jewish theme is such a big deal, but it is – and especially now – so the praise heaped on Lady in the Lake is most welcome. That it also stars Israeli-born Natalie Portman (also executive producer) and has Israeli director Alma Har’el at the helm is a double whammy and there have already been whispers about awards down the line.

Lady in the Lake is a seven-part adaptation of the 2019 bestseller of the same name by Laura Lippman who was  inspired by two real-life and unrelated murder cases that took place in Baltimore in 1969: an 11-year-old Jewish girl named Esther Lebowitz, whose disappearance received media coverage, and Shirley Parker, a 35-year-old Black woman whose body was found in a Baltimore zoo’s lake fountain months after she went missing.

The disparity between these two victims is investigated by Maddie Schwartz (Portman), a Jewish housewife turned aspiring journalist who becomes entangled in the murder of the Jewish child renamed Tessie Durst and the mysterious Black woman, now known as Cleo, who is portrayed brilliantly by Moses Ingram. Struggling with her own identity, Maddie also deals with the societal expectations placed upon her as a Jewish woman in 1960s Baltimore.

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The series is rich with Jewish content, imaginatively explored by Har’el who also made the film Honey Boy starring Jewish actor Shia LaBeouf (now a Catholic convert) and there are scenes at a kosher butcher, at a Jewish funeral and in the synagogue. Maddie is also reprimanded by her husband for mixing milk and meat so no faith stone remains unturned in this story, which also addresses Maddie’s Holocaust history and delves into themes of identity, privilege and resilience.

“It was important for me because I feel like we obviously live in a really challenging time,” Ha’rel told Kveller. “Not that it’s ever been an easy time to be Jews. But I think that there is a duality to our existence, especially Ashkenazi Jews who at once can be easily discriminated against and persecuted, and then at the same time, as a result of surviving their circumstances and assimilating, can become persecutors or oppressors.”

Ha’rel also emphasizes the historical context the characters inhabit. “There’s something about the relationship between Black folks and Jewish people, who both suffered a lot of struggle. I did a lot of research about the murder that inspired the book, the murder of Shirley Parker, about her, about women in her circle, Black women in Baltimore, and it just revealed such a big world full of politics and music.”

Har’el has spoken at length about how she was drawn into the story and in her discussions with Natalie Portman realised that Maddie was so wrapped up in her own struggles and  sense of victimhood, that she was completely oblivious to the struggles of those around her.

“And I think we’re living it now in the world,” says the Israeli director, “so it was an opportunity to humanise that moment and try to understand how can something like that happen.”

Lady in the Lake is on Apple TV+