Two weeks ahead of its January 22 U.S. premiere, Apple TV Plus released the full English-language trailer for one of the platform’s imported series, the Israeli psychological thriller Losing Alice, TV Line reports. The program was Israel’s official 2020 submission to the Cannes International Series Festival and aired in its home country on HOT, an Altice-owned cable network. Take look at the trailer for the English-language dub below:
The series allegedly deals with the anxiety of aging, as well as themes of guilt and sacrifice: “Alice (Ayelet Zurer, Shtisel), a 48-year-old film director… feels irrelevant after taking a step back from her career to raise a family. But after meeting a young screenwriter named Sophie (Lihi Kornowski, The Hood) on the train, Alice becomes obsessed with both Sophie and her haunting film,” via TV Line.
Losing Alice is the creation of writer-director Sigal Avin (The Champion), who sees the series as a metafictional tribute to the personage of the female director, according to an interview with Fade to Her she participated in with Zurer and Kornowski. Avin’s immediate proximity to the subject matter reportedly afforded her the opportunity to explore the complex inner workings of the main characters in depth, giving special attention to their love lives.
“It was important for me to show women’s sexuality… and that they fantasize and that it’s okay to go… deeper and deeper,” Avin told Fade to Her. “I kept encouraging myself to go as far as I can [sic] with this to a point where I would sit in my office and my husband would sometimes come in and… it was like he was bothering me,” she continued. “He told us that sometimes he would feel like Sigal has a lover,” joked Zurer.
As evidenced by the trailer, Losing Alice does not shy away from the topic of sex. The descriptor “erotic” crops up in many descriptions of the series. Within the show’s world, Alice builds her reputation with famous sex scene in her debut feature; it’s allegedly a moment that garners the enthusiasm of young Sophie, according to Fade to Her. Furthermore, in the process of filming the show, Avin strove to incorporate sex scenes into the structure of the story in a way where they would follow a dramatic progression: “The series does go and get even more sexual along the way…. The very erotic scenes… gradually grow as the series evolves,” via Fade to Her.
Kornowski appreciated the sensitivity and openness Avin displayed when directing the sex scenes, according to Fade to Her. “It was so important that we talked every scene through before shooting it because it’s more comfortable,” Kornowski asserted. Zurer, who’s done her fair share of Hollywood film projects, harbors immense respect for the consideration Avin has given the material: “If I’m honest, I don’t know if I’ve received roles in English that are as deep as Alice,” via The Times of Israel.
The first three episodes of Losing Alice arrive on Apple TV Plus on January 22.