The House on Chelouche Street is a 1973 film from Israel directed by Moshé Mizrahi.
The setting is Tel Aviv, 1947-48. A family of Egyptian Jews has immigrated to what is still the British Mandate of Palestine and settled, living in a cramped apartment. The father died six years ago, and his widow Clara is working as a maid and attempting to support a family of four. The central character is Sami, Clara's oldest child, a 15-year-old boy. Sami is an extremely bright teenager with a seemingly limitless talent for languages, but he has had to drop out of school and get a job at a machine shop because his mother's wages simply aren't enough to support five people.
Sami resents his mother for making him drop out of school, even if there really wasn't his choice. He begins spending time at the library, where he makes the acquaintance of Sonia, the very pretty librarian who happens to be ten years older than he is. His mother for her part is being courted by Hami, an older man who has a chicken farm. Meanwhile, there is the small matter of civil war in Palestine, the end of the British mandate and the formation of the state of Israel, and the 1948 Israeli-Arab war.
Tropes:
- Age-Gap Romance: 25-year-old Sonia invites 15-year-old Sami to her apartment, where she starts to send out all sorts of mating signals (one time she comes out of her shower wearing nothing but a robe, and the robe isn't tied all the way either), and inviting him over to read whenever he wants. Eventually he kisses her and they have sex. There's a strong Double Standard; while any movie would be guaranteed to show a relationship between a 25-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl as very wrong, in this film Sonia and Sami's relationship is shown as romantic and a part of his rite of passage.
- As You Know: Clara tells Sami that it's been six years since his father died.
- Book Ends: The first scene of the movie has Nissim greeting some old coot named Shimon sitting on a stool outside. Nissim asks how it's going, and Shimon says "It's all bullshit!" The last scene has Shimon sitting in the exact same place, and having the exact same conversation word-for-word, this time with Sami.
- Coming of Age Story: Sami starts out as a horny 15-year-old boy. Over the course of the movie, he takes his first job only to quit it, asserts independence from his mother, loses his virginity (with a significantly older woman), then volunteers for the Israeli army and goes off to fight in the war. He's even grown a wispy mustache by the end.
- Death of a Child: Near the end, Sami's little brother is killed in an Arab bombing raid.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: The whole family has fallen on hard times. Back in the day in Egypt, they had a house with a garden and a couple of servants. Now they're living crammed into an apartment that's too small for six, and Clara has to take a job as a cleaning lady.
- Jizzed in My Pants: Sami is making out with neighbor girl Ziona, kissing her and feeling her up. The result is this, to the amusement of a neighbor who points out the stain on Sami's pants.
- The Magic Poker Equation: One random moment shows the men of the neighborhood playing poker. One man has a full house and assumes that he's won, only for another player to reveal four of a kind and take the pot.
- Mama Bear: Clara is fearless. When British soldiers are trying to take her son away, she stands in front of him and dares them to shoot her. She later goes out to get food during the middle of a military lockdown, and gets arrested.
- Meet Cute: Sami and Sonia meet when she catches him stealing a book from the library. She lets him.
- Parent with New Paramour: Clara gets matched up with Haim, a sensible and kindly man. Sami is somewhat uncomfortable with this and standoffish towards Haim. As Sami himself later points out, the main reason for this is that Clara herself wasn't sure of her feelings towards Hami and kept him at arm's length.
- Shower of Angst: A despairing Sami takes a shower in Sonia's bathroom after his friend Grossman is savagely beaten by strikebreaking thugs, and Sami himself gets roughed up. This seems like it might lead to Shower of Love when Sonia enters while he's sobbing to give him a towel, but the sex doesn't come until later.
- Stocking Filler: A shot of Clara rolling pantyhose over a long, smooth leg demonstrates that Sami's mom is quite attractive for her age and that she's making an effort with Hami.
- Speed Sex: Sami, a horny teenaged boy even if he doesn't like to admit it, goes to bed with gorgeous Sonia. Apparently he climaxes almost immediately and is embarrassed. An understanding Sonia helps to get him revved up again (remember, he's 15) and this time they do it for real.
- Visual Title Drop: The first shot of the movie shows a street sign saying "Chelouche Street".
- Word, Schmord!: When the British goons are about to drag Sami away, Clara interrupts forcefully. When one soldier says he'll shoot her, Clara spits back "Shoot, schmoot!"
