Michael Aloni Guest Stars on HBO’s ‘Scenes From a Marriage’ as Israeli Entrepreneur Pining for Jessica Chastain’s Character
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Michael Aloni and Jessica Chastain in “Scenes From a Marriage.” Photo: Jojo Whilden/HBO.
Israeli actor Michael Aloni appeared in Sunday’s finale of the HBO limited series “Scenes From a Marriage,” starring Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain and acclaimed actor Oscar Isaac.
Aloni, who starred in the Israeli hit series “Shtisel” and the upcoming “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem,” plays Poli, an Israeli start-up CEO who is the “colleague-turned-lover” of Chastain’s character, Mira. She is unhappily married to Jonathan Levy, a formerly observant Jew and now philosophy professor, played by Isaac. While Aloni’s character is referenced earlier in the series — the second episode is even titled “Poli” — his first appearance was in Sunday’s finale.
“Scenes From a Marriage” is a five-part limited series based on a 1973 Swedish miniseries of the same name by Ingmar Bergman. It premiered on Sept. 12 and was written, developed and directed by Israeli filmmaker Hagai Levi, who also created HBO’s “In Treatment,” “Our Boys” and “The Affair.” Levi swapped the sexes of the characters for the HBO adaptation and made both Isaac and Aloni’s characters Jewish.
Aloni wrote on Instagram that he “was so excited to take a small part but I guess an important one” in the show.
“Being forever fascinated with Ingmar Bergman’s work and ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ specifically I was thrilled to join the superb cast lead by the astonishing @jessicachastain and the mesmerizing Oscar Isaac,” he said.
“In every adaptation I’ve seen of Bergman’s original work — be it on stage or on the screen — you feel that you know yourself a little better as the intimate and all so painful scenes carry you through the couples story and what marriage actually means in this modern world of ours,” the actor continued. “Hagi really outdid himself with his take on the original. As the power shifts between the sexes and so much of his own life were melted into the story.”
Aloni’s other English-language credits include the Netflix show “The Greenhouse” and the Holocaust movie “Plan A.”
