Some random thoughts on this film...

This is my take on various aspects of the film:

--I think that the sexuality and flirtation in the film between the two main characters was not the primary focus. I felt that it was just a device to pave the way for the emotional - not sexual - redemption of the main character. Remember, he is as cold as ice inside, he is not even able to cry (so dry-eyed that he even has to use tear drops to moisten those baby blues). It is the opening of Eyal's emotional floodgates in the villa bedroom that is the turning point/climax of the film - not necessarily sexual liberation. The prominence of sexual innuendo and ambiguity in the film is in fact a smokescreen for the real underlying issue of Eyal's learning to feel/cry again.

--Also, while it's true that there is heavy duty gay flirting going on between Axel and Eyal in the latter half of the film, I felt that the flirting was at least in part a ploy on Eyal's part to ingratiate himself with Axel so he could gain access into the villa and learn more about the whereabouts of the Nazi grandfather. Eyal was completely finished with both Pia AND Axel...until Menachem came through for him and got him the assignment to go to Germany and track down the grandfather. So once he was there, he called upon Axel and flirted his way into Axel's good graces, thus gaining access to the Nazi Grandfather.

--In the thread below ("the USA and the ham fisted ending"), the OP states that Axel killed the grandfather basically to cover Eyal's ass because Eyal couldn't do it. Uh, no. I didn't get that at all. Axel is appalled at the Nazi legacy within his family and he himself did the killing out of his own loathing of his grandfather and what he represented - not to save Eyal's ass. That's what I felt, strongly.

--As for the ending, yes it was shocking that Eyal and Pia ended up together. But perhaps the coldness that had always marked Eyal's life finally began to lift at the villa with Axel, and for Eyal it was like a fresh new start in life. The ice was melting and he was able to consider Pia in a whole new light, whereas before he was only capable of contempt and indifference. I thought his phone dialogue with Axel didn't seem like he still "carried a torch," just that he had good feelings for Axel and considered him a friend (he gladly invites Axel's boyfriend Andreas to come along on a visit).

Anyone have any thoughts on any points?