Bleecker Street
There are very few movies that show anything close to an accurate or even non-clichéd view of the Orthodox Jewish community, much less anything outside of the more conservative, insular ‘Ultra’ Orthodox ones. To the point where I can’t think of a single American one in any recent memory, but I don’t think that’ll change anytime soon. I think that there’s something about leaving such communities that leads to interesting artistic rebellions.
Disobedience comes director Sebastián Lelio, who co-wrote it with Rebecca Lenkiewicz and is based on the 2006 fiction book of the same name by Naomi Alderman. The movie follows two women in a world of a ‘forbidden’ romance. Rachel Weisz stars as Ronit, the estranged daughter of a prominent London rabbi living in New York as a fancy schmancy photographer. Her life there is not really elaborated much on, which is good — as it is not really important.
Ronit finds out that her father has just passed away, so she returns to the community of Hendon in London where a large, Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community resides. There she reconnects with her cousin Dovid (Alessandro Nivola), who is willing to let her stay there despite pushback from the community. Ronit was kicked out for undisclosed reasons, although we discover soon it was due to a lesbian relationship, which is forbidden in the stricter Jewish communities. Dovid is also the heir apparent to the deceased Rabbi, which means he is quite concerned about living up to that model.
Dovi’s wife is Esti (Rachel McAdams), the woman that happened to be the girl Ronit was caught with so many years back. Thus the stage is set for the complex reunion, for the two clearly have feelings for each other. Ronit is conflicted because of their past, and not wanting to rock the boat, and she has overall mostly negative feelings towards the community.
Esti admittedly is not attracted to men, but she finds strength and purpose in the community despite her conflicts with the forbidden nature of homosexual relationships there. Much of the movie delves a bit into this idea, faith versus free choice and whether or not they can be reconciled. Ultimately the movie does not really offer an answer to this question.
Instead the focus is the slow burn of the rekindling romance between the two Rachels as they try to hide it from Dovid and everyone else. This can get a bit fetishistic at times, the way Esti handles or takes off her wig, a religious observance, other times it’s relatively tender or sincere. The movie finds strength in the intimate, clever direction and cinematography and the overwhelmingly good acting in its two and a half leads.
Rachels Weisz and McAdams both are excellent here, convincingly playing these rules in a way that felt nearly like they came from this mysterious world. Alessandro Nivola is also quite good in a role that could be quite problematic or without nuance.
The underlying story is not particularly original or clever, and perhaps that’s no surprise as the source material is over ten years old. But the movie becomes better than itself due to the strength of the acting elevating iffy lines and a well shot direction that draws you in. It’ll still draw some controversy, but I doubt it’ll be for the right reasons.
Disobedience has a run time of 1 hour 54 minutes and is rated R for some strong sexuality.
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