Nadav Lapid’s graduation film, “Emile’s Girlfriend” sets the tone for the filmmaker’s future style, as a disturbing, ironic story set against the background of the conflicts in present-day Israel. It explores the relationship between Yoav – a young Israeli – and Delphine, a pretty French girl who visits him and is the girlfriend of Emile, his great friend. Delphine wants to study the Holocaust, but Yoav is only interested in flirting with her. Relations deteriorate during the course of the day until both realise that the absent Emile no longer interests them and has become part of the past. From this point onwards, Yoav and Delphine begin to understand each other. In “Emile’s Girlfriend”, Lapid shows how the Israeli identity – represented by Yoav, played by the actor who would later take the leading role in “Policeman” – is both futile and nostalgic, seeking only to enjoy the worldly pleasures of life. In a certain sense, it becomes comforting to contrast the heavy legacy of the past with a future open to a shallow existence. (DR)