Désobéissance

Disobedience is a truly beautiful film about the challenges of being human, balancing your beliefs, your expectations and your true self. So many people struggle to accept who they really are, because they're afraid of the reactions of others. Perhaps deeply religious people have a tougher time than others, because they often judge themselves at least as harshly as their communities.

Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams do a great job playing the two childhood friends (Ronit and Esti) who meet again years later, only to discover that their feelings for each other haven't changed. Alessandro Nivola plays the young rabbi husband (Dovid) of Rachel McAdams character (Esti), and portrays him beautifully.

I encourage you to see it. I doubt that you'll regret it.

Ronit (Rachel Weisz), a single middle-aged photographer, returns to England from New York following the death of her father, an esteemed ultra-Orthodox rabbi who had been the spiritual leader of this non-Hasidic congregation and its institutions. It immediately becomes evident that due to personal issues she had left the community at a very young age and never looked back. As the story develops, we learn that Esti (Rachel McAdams), now wife of Dovid Kuperman (the departed rabbi's chief disciple and heir apparent, played by Alessandro Nivola) had struggled with similar issues alongside Ronit in their youth but had chosen a drastically different method of coping.

With Ronit's return, old sentiments are dredged up in a manner that upends the lives of all three in a community that simply has not developed tools for dealing with the full spectrum of matters involving private life, nature and choice that have in recent years become so normalized that we hardly lend them so much weight.

As each of the three struggle to cope with their issues, it becomes clear that there is a void in place of a guide in the doctrine of the community and that there is no one right way to cope with outlying struggles.

The directing of the picture and the portrayal of the three main characters is stellar. Aside from two seven-candle menorahs (which have no place in a Jewish home), this picture stands out as perhaps the most authentic portrayal of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in motion picture history.

Yes, there was another film that came out during Avengers: Infinity War release week. I was immediately excited for Disobedience as soon as I heard about it. I mean how could you not be? Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams (who I am infatuated with) in a film about a forbidden romance? I was so in. I did see Sebastián Lelio's A Fantastic Woman earlier this year, so I was really pleasantly surprised to hear he had another project out so soon. I can draw parallels between the two films and while Disobedience is not perfect and has lapses its well acted and has an interesting look at a religious community being scarred by a "scandalous" affair.

The film is about a woman who returns to a very strict Orthodox Jewish community when her father dies. While there she sees her former lover who is now married. The problem is the fact that people in the Jewish community do not know about the relationship that has occured and also because a lesbian affair is frowned upon in the community. Both women also must deal with harboring the feelings that they have for each other, while attempting to maintain their standing in the Jewish community.

The first thing that's instantly noticeable about the film is its depth into an Orthodox Jewish world. The films backdrop is its strict nature and how a lesbian romance must be hidden from the community. Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams are great in this as expected, and have great chemistry. Their intimate scenes (which are very very intimate) are believable and are a strong point in selling the romance. I always knew McAdams was a talent since she had a good showing on season 2 of True Detective.

The film reminded me of A Fantastic Woman in a way because in that film there is a struggle to accept a transgender person, although the implications in that film are more hostile. I also couldn't help but compare this film to Carol (which is one of the very best films of the decade). Its nowhere near the levels of Carol but does a decent job for what the film is. There are lapses where the film seems slow and it suffers from its best moments being purely when Weisz and McAdams share the screen. Its still a worthy watch, just don't expect anything spectacular.

6/10

I really wanted to love this movie. Some parts I enjoyed but was repeatedly taken out of the narrative by filmmaker choices.

The editing left much to be desired-scenes are awkwardly edited where you can see it's a different take of the same scene. Many of the edits simply appeared ham-handed and amateur.

Continuity also seems an issue; the progress of the story is chunked out, like skipping around chapters in a book. The screenplay lacks the dialog which would convey the depth of the story and it's characters.

The actors are quite good but not able to fill all the missing bits of good filmmaking. The score was musically fine but seems to have been written for a different movie. The pacing too, is slow and awkward like much of this film.

The Rachels handled what little they had to work with well. The sex scene was interesting and respectfully shot but again, the editing sucked all the life out of this love story.

Though I think this film was a missed opportunity, the potential for a well-written and directed sequel could fix what didn't work in this outing.

I really wanted to like it but kinda didn't.

While the movie is very slow paced, the story is a beautiful one! The two actresses are brilliant on their own, and shine together in this film. Worth a watch for any lover of cinema.