Film

Jellyfish

Name: Jellyfish
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2007
Cast: Sarah Adler, Shosha Goren, Tsipor Aizen, Bruria Albeck, Ilanit Ben-Yaakov

Other titles called Jellyfish: the 2019 film.

Social drama

Three Israeli women from different worlds—a catering worker, a trapped bride, a migrant housekeeper—find their lives intersecting in Tel Aviv over a few transformative days. Jellyfish is tender and unsentimental, alive to small humiliations and sudden grace. It moves between comedy and sorrow without announcing the shift. It's for anyone who's felt outside looking in.

TMDb rating

3.5

If you liked this

Departures2008

A Japanese film about a man who becomes a ritual mortician, finding unexpected beauty and connection in a job society deems lowly. Like Jellyfish, it finds profundity in what others overlook, and treats grief with gentle respect.

But The central premise might feel heavy-handed, and it can drift into sentimentality in its final stretch. Not brisk.

Summer of 852020

A Belgian coming-of-age film about two young men on the cusp of understanding love and desire. Shares Jellyfish's gift for capturing the vulnerability of people caught between worlds, with real pain beneath the surface.

But The pacing is deliberately slow and nothing you'd call plot-driven happens. The ending is unsettling in ways that linger unresolved.

Fill the Void2012

Another Israeli film about a young woman navigating duty, desire, and her place within her ultra-Orthodox community. It has the same observant eye for cultural collision and the cost of belonging.

But Quite formally restrained—long takes, minimal music. If you want clarity about how you should feel, this won't give it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Jellyfish

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

God's Gift: 14 Days2014

Both use fragmented structure and long takes to convey how grief and dislocation distort time and perception, rather than explaining it through dialogue.

A six-part Turkish miniseries about a mother searching for her son after the 1980 military coup. Each episode picks up years later in fragments. Jellyfish-like in its fractured structure and its portrait of how trauma echoes through ordinary life.

But Deliberately non-linear and repetitive—the same events recur from different angles. Requires patience and emotional endurance. Slow to reveal its architecture.

Moonlight2016

Three chapters following a Black man through boyhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Like Jellyfish, it refuses easy answers and finds humanity in people the world has discounted. Visually stunning and emotionally precise.

But Fragmented structure means it demands active attention. Violence and sexuality are present and matter. Some find it too quiet.

Mustang2015

Five Turkish sisters locked in their home by conservative family attempt small rebellions. Shares Jellyfish's focus on women's constrained choices and the comedy-tragedy of small acts of resistance.

But The tone shifts abruptly between scenes of playfulness and sudden darkness. It can feel frustratingly incomplete because the world it portrays is.

Chevalier2015

A Russian chamber piece about six people on a luxury yacht where professional etiquette slowly cracks under the weight of real feeling. Jellyfish-like in its focus on surfaces and what festers underneath.

But Essentially a stage play filmed. If you need visual dynamism or plot momentum, it'll feel static and claustrophobic.

The Shape of Water2017

A lonely woman, a lonely creature—a fable about connection across difference, wrapped in 1960s visual poetry. Optimistic in ways Jellyfish isn't, but shares that sense of tenderness as radical act.

But Much more overtly a fairy tale, which some find saccharine. The political backdrop can feel decorative rather than urgent.

Personal Shopper2016

Kristen Stewart as a widow adrift in Paris, caught between two worlds—the glamorous one she works in and her own grief. Explores isolation and the masks we wear with Jellyfish's unhurried attention.

But Deliberately enigmatic; Assayas seems more interested in mood than answers. Some sequences feel like experiments that don't land.

The Farewell2019

An American-Chinese woman navigates family loyalty and cultural identity when her grandmother receives a terminal diagnosis. Balances comedy and sorrow like Jellyfish does, and examines what we owe across worlds.

But Occasionally tilts toward a more Hollywood narrative shape. The emotional beats can feel familiar if you've seen many ensemble dramas.

Lantana2001

Same constellation structure—multiple characters whose private struggles we inhabit separately, then see how they touch without resolution or judgment.

An Australian ensemble drama where six people's lives intersect around one mysterious death. Like Jellyfish, it sees how strangers' private worlds collide, and how small kindnesses and cruelties ripple outward. Formally assured and deeply human.

But It's a puzzle box that only reveals itself on second viewing. Some resent being held at a distance rather than drawn into empathy immediately. A bit of a 2001 arthouse artifact now.