Shoshana (film)

2023 film

Shoshana

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Michael Winterbottom
Screenplay by|

* Laurence Coriat
* Paul Viragh
* Michael Winterbottom

Produced by|

* Massimo Di Rocco
* Josh Hyams
* Luigi Napoleone

Starring|

* Douglas Booth
* Irina Starshenbaum
* Harry Melling
* Aury Alby
* Ian Hart
* Rony Herman
* Yarden Lavi
* Doron Kochavi
* Ofer Seker

Cinematography| Giles Nuttgens

Production
companies

* Vision Distribution
* Revolution Films
* Bartlebyfilm

Distributed by| Altitude Film Distribution

Release dates

* September 8, 2023 (2023-09-08) (TIFF)
* February 23, 2024 (2024-02-23) (United Kingdom)
* July 25, 2025 (2025-07-25) (United States)

Running time

| 121 minutes
Countries|

* United Kingdom
* Italy

Languages|

* English
* Hebrew
* Arabic
* Russian

Box office| $199,543[1]

Shoshana is a 2023 British biographical thriller film directed by Michael Winterbottom.

The film is set in 1930s/1940s British Mandatory Palestine. It follows the tragic love story of Shoshana Borochov (Irina Starshenbaum), daughter of one of the founders of socialist Zionism, and British police officer Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth),[2] while Wilkin and fellow police officer Geoffrey J. Morton (Harry Melling)[3] hunt for Zionist militant Avraham Stern (Aury Alby).[4]

## Plot

[edit]

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|

Set in 1938, the film takes place in Tel Aviv, where tensions are high as the British, under their League of Nations mandate, attempt to maintain order in a city with a mixed Arabian and Jewish population. Thomas Wilkin, a British deputy superintendent of the Palestinian police, becomes romantically involved with Shoshana, the daughter of Ber Borochov, a co-founder of the Zionist labor movement.

## Cast

[edit]

* Douglas Booth as Tom Wilkin
* Irina Starshenbaum as Shoshana Borochov
* Harry Melling as Geoffrey J. Morton
* Aury Alby as Avraham Stern
* Ian Hart as Robert Chambers
* Gina Bramhill as Alice Morton

## Production

[edit]

Winterbottom developed the film for many years. In 2010, Jim Sturgess, Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen were announced as its stars. While the film never entered production in 2010, Winterbottom did shoot documentary footage in Israel at the time with surviving participants in the events.[5]

Filming began in October 2021 in the town of Ostuni in Italy, which doubled for Tel Aviv.[6]

The screenplay was written by Winterbottom, Laurence Coriat and Paul Viragh.[7]

## Release

[edit]

The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.[7] It was released by Altitude Film Distribution on 23 February 2024 in the UK.[8] It will be released in the US by Greenwich Entertainment on 25 July 2025.[9]

## Reception

[edit]

The film received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 54 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Shoshana is a solidly fact-based historical thriller whose complex themes are occasionally underserved by director Michael Winterbottom's facile treatment."[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[11]

Ellen E. Jones gave the film four out of five stars in her review in The Observer. Jones described the film as "intelligent and compelling", continuing to praise it for "giving valuable insight into the variance of opinion within the era’s Zionist movement."[12] Film critic Mark Kermode also praised the film: "The fact that most of what the story tells us is actually true, I think gives it a kind of a real sense of bite that this relationship does become a microcosm of a much wider conflict."[13] John Nathan of The Jewish Chronicle wrote "Winterbottom deserves credit for conveying complexity on a subject where fervently held opinion much prefers simplicity." However, Nathan criticised the film for doing "nothing to reflect the huge proportion of modern Israel’s population that originates in the Middle East and Africa."[14] Hannah Brown of The Jerusalem Post felt that the scope of the story and setting was better suited to a miniseries format: "But somehow, the wide canvas here doesn’t present a satisfying picture, despite the echoes of the conflict that continue till today. I almost wished this were a mini-series rather than a movie, so each character could be developed further. Tel Aviv of this era was so complex, that it defeats this attempt to tell its story in two hours."[15]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Shoshana". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
2. ^ Vourlias, Christopher (18 August 2022). "Michael Winterbottom Says 'No Regrets' About Setting Sky's COVID-19 Drama 'This England' Before Boris Johnson's Downfall". Variety. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
3. ^ Wise, Damon (30 August 2023). "Michael Winterbottom Talks About His Period Drama 'Shoshana' Ahead of Its TIFF World Premiere: "Where We Know The Facts, We've Stuck To The Facts"". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
4. ^ "Michael Winterbottom says Boris Johnson series 'This England' not revised after partygate revelations". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
5. ^ Ntim, Zach (14 December 2023). "Michael Winterbottom Drama 'Shoshana' Lands U.S. Deal". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
6. ^ Cellie, Flavio. ""The Promised Land", un thriller ad Ostuni come fossimo a Tel Aviv". La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (in Italian). Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
7. ^ a b "Shoshana". TIFF. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
8. ^ "Altitude Films - Shoshana". Altitude Films. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
9. ^ https://theplaylist.net/shoshana-trailer-michael-winterbottoms-british-occupation-of-palestine-drama-stars-douglas-booth-harry-melling-more-20250603/
10. ^ "Shoshana". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 13 February 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
11. ^ "Shoshana". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
12. ^ Jones, Ellen E. (26 February 2024). "Shoshana review – Michael Winterbottom's compelling romantic thriller set in 30s Palestine". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
13. ^ Mark Kermode reviews Shoshana - Kermode and Mayo's Take. February 2024. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024 – via YouTube.
14. ^ Nathan, John (22 February 2024). "Shoshana: 'It's not even-handed when it comes to depicting Jewish victims of violence'". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
15. ^ Brown, Hannah (31 January 2024). "New film 'Shoshana' tells a love story in the shadow of history - review". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Shoshana at IMDb
* Shoshana at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Michael Winterbottom filmography

Films|

* Butterfly Kiss (1995)
* Go Now (1995)
* Jude (1996)
* Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
* I Want You (1998)
* Wonderland (1999)
* With or Without You (1999)
* The Claim (2000)
* 24 Hour Party People (2002)
* In This World (2003)
* Code 46 (2003)
* 9 Songs (2004)
* A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
* The Road to Guantánamo (2006)
* A Mighty Heart (2007)
* Genova (2008)
* The Shock Doctrine (2009)
* The Killer Inside Me (2010)
* The Trip (2010)
* Trishna (2011)
* Everyday (2012)
* The Look of Love (2013)
* The Trip to Italy (2014)
* The Face of an Angel (2014)
* The Emperor's New Clothes (2015)
* On the Road (2016)
* The Trip to Spain (2017)
* The Wedding Guest (2018)
* Greed (2019)
* The Trip to Greece (2020)
* Eleven Days in May (2022)
* Shoshana (2023)

TV series|

* Time Riders (1991)
* Family (1994)
* The Trip (2010-2020)
* This England (2022, episodes 1&6)

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