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Yossi Gutmann is a character, played by Ohad Knoller, at the center of two films from gay Israeli director Eytan Fox, one the end of a love story, the other the beginning of one.

In the 2002 film Yossi & Jagger, Yossi is a company commander in the Israeli Defense Forces stationed at the Lebanese border. Yossi is secretly in love with his second in command, Lior, nicknamed Jagger, played by Yehuda Levi.

Their sweet love story turns tragic when Jagger is fatally wounded in a raid Yossi was against, and dies in Yossi’s arms. At Jagger’s funeral reception, Jagger’s mother mistakes a female soldier for her son’s girlfriend and laments that she hardly knew anything about her son. Yossi’s loss is compounded by the fact that no one will ever know of it.

In the 2012 film Yossi, Yossi is a doctor working in Tel Aviv. He’s never fully recovered from the loss of Jagger. Still closeted, overweight, and lonely, he sleepwalks through life.

After a surprise encounter with Jagger’s mother, he tells her about their relationship and how Jagger died in his arms. She doesn’t take it well.

Later, on an impromptu vacation, Yossi encounters a group of soldiers on leave. One of the soldiers, Tom, is openly gay, and his fellow soldiers are unfazed.

Tom helps Yossi get past both his grief and his insecurities, and opens him up to the possibility of falling in love again.