TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Some stories begin where others would end. Writer/director Ruthy Pribar’s What Is to Come opens with a woman who survives the unthinkable — a suicide pact — and then has to figure out what on earth to do next.
Yehudit (Ronit Yudkevitch) and her husband, Michael (Yaakov Zada Daniel), share a quiet, somber dinner on their farm. Michael has her sign a letter, and then the two of them walk into the barn, close the door, and start the car. They have made a pact to die together. But when Michael loses consciousness, Yehudit can’t go through with it. She escapes once Michael passes out and needs to cover everything up. She quickly hides the note and then calls the police. The literal and metaphorical wake that follows reveals the wreckage Michael left behind. He had racked up insurmountable debt, borrowed money from friends, and now Yehudit is responsible for it all.
The pressure and humiliation become unbearable, and Yehudit quietly leaves town along with all her responsibilities. She goes by Gila now, lands a housekeeping job at a small hotel in the port city of Eilat after begging the owner, Benny (Tovit Adis Semay), for a chance at a new life.
For a while, things go smoothly for Yehudit — until the house she’s assigned to comes with its own surprise: an immigrant family who used to live there. Desperate for a place to stay, the father coerces Yehudit into sharing the room with them while he tries to find work. Like Yehudit, he doesn’t come back. The mother, Meron (Tovit Adis Semay), desperate to find him, asks Gila to watch her young son.
“The literal and metaphorical wake that follows reveals the wreckage Eli left behind.”
Ruthy Pribar’s inspiration for What Is to Come came from a real encounter — a woman she’d only just met who asked her for a ride to her husband’s grave. Standing beside that headstone, the woman told Pribar her story. What struck Pribar wasn’t just what the woman had survived, but the way she talked about it — expressing her grief and shame openly as a way to begin again.
I’m utterly fascinated with how Pribar gets the story going on an odd, awkward note. In the end, Yehudit’s story is one of independence. Throughout her marriage, she had followed her husband, Eli, even to the point of death. Running away was a way to start life anew and be freed from the burdens Eli had placed upon her at death. But is running away really the easy way out?
From here, we get a glimpse into the immigrant and refugee story, which is not dissimilar from Yehudit’s plight. The strongest element of What Is to Come is Pribar’s tone of subtlety and authenticity. It’s not overly dramatic, nor does it point fingers at the issue of immigration, but it tells a highly relatable story with a brilliant performance from Ronit Yudkevitch, who allows us to slip right into her shoes. This is the power that films have in bringing empathy to any situation.
What Is to Come is quiet filmmaking — no melodrama, no easy answers, just a woman finding her footing one small choice at a time. Pribar and Yudkevitch make that worth every minute.
What Is to Come screened at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival.
"…is running away really the easy way out?"
