Ronit (Rachel Weisz) has returned to her estranged home in Hendon upon hearing the news that her father (Anton Lesser), a highly respected Jewish Orthodox rabbi has passed away. Since leaving the Orthodox community, she has since started a life of photographing tattooed men, having casual sexual encounters and living well outside the restrictions of her family’s faith.
It is on this return home that Ronit reunites with Esti (Rachel McAdams), her former lover who has since married the tight-laced Dovid (Alessandro Nivola). As to be expected, Esti is immediately conflicted and caught between the safety of Dovid’s traditional values and the exciting, free-spirited whirlwind that comes with loving Ronit.
Director Sebastián Lelio is a remarkable talent. Before Disobedience, his Oscar award-winning film A Fantastic Woman was a triumphant look at the love between a man and a transwoman. Unfortunately, it seems as if he expired his capacity to present a compelling love story between a non-heteronormative couple with his previous masterpiece.
Disobedience is a gorgeous film with captivating cinematography, but the story unfortunately feels stuck in a very binary way of feeling. McAdams and Weisz deliver compelling performances, but the material wants Weisz to be an Orthodox version of a manic-pixie dream girl and McAdams to forever be torn between what’s expected and what she desires.
The “forbidden love” between Ronit and Esti feels melodramatic, and the religious background feels like a cheap way to explain away the characters’ repressed feelings. While the relationship between the two women is and should be the center of the film, the necessary conflict from Dovid feels a bit wasted.
Despite the film’s nearly two-hour run time, Disobedience feels like there’s something missing. The complexities of the Jewish Orthodox church and its feelings on homosexuality feel unexplored, and the severity of Esti and Ronit’s relationship feel brushed over.
However, credit must be given to Lelio for directing a six-minute scene between Esti and Ronit that is one of the most authentic portrayals of lesbian intimacy ever presented on the silver screen. Never once does their exchange feel titillating or manufactured for the male gaze. Rather, it’s an actual moment of lesbian sexuality that resembles the way lesbians actually have sex. For this, Disobedience earns its well-deserved praise.
The film is beautiful and will likely garner a fanbase of lesbian women looking for any sort of representation as well as appeal to heterosexual masses who are a sucker for any gay love story under the guise of “progressiveness,” but Disobedience ultimately feels like its message is a nail being beaten by a hammer named “religion and sexuality are complicated.”
With the success of films like Call Me By Your Name and Love, Simon, it seems as if filmmakers are finally homing in on the complexities and nuances of homosexual relationships between men. Unfortunately, with films like Carol and now Disobedience, it seems that lesbian relationships are still experiencing some growing pains.
Disobedience opens tomorrow at the Cedar Lee Theatre at 7 p.m. The Cedar Lee is located at 2163 Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.
This article appears in May 16-22, 2018.
Where are your copy editors and proofreaders? Jewish Orthodox CHURCH?
Oy, vey! That gives me a pain in my temple! I think you meant “faith”…
Interestingly, and striking to the heart of the premise of this film, is the fact that lesbianism within Judaism, although forbidden, is not treated as gravely as is male homosexuality . Lesbianism isn’t even mentioned in the bible, but Maimonides said sexual intercourse is defined by penetration. According to Maimonides, because there is no (male-female) penetration, lesbian sex isn’t actually sex at all. Therefore, even if there are two women who have engaged in sexual activity together, there is no real punishment because no real sexual intercourse took place.
Hey, Ronnie…you have a lot to learn about lesbians and lesbian sex. Ever hear of sex toys? Or strap-ons? You need some schooling. I suggest you start reading Dan Savage. You will get an education…and very quickly. .You will learn how many amazing things people do to each other…or for each other…or with each other. Dan Savage certainly woke me up and wised me up. You need to do the same.
Learn how to tip.
Are you hinting that those who attend the “Jewish Orthodox Church” are cheap and stingy?
Oh, my. Another hater.
Author just doesn’t know enough about Judaism to comment. (“Jewish Orthodox Church,” lol.) My friend and I are Jewish dykes and thought it was extremely powerful. You’re right, not everything is spelled out—you probably have to know about Maimonedes, and how divorce works, and the way everyone in a tight religious community knows everything that’s going on but doesn’t talk about it openly.
SPOILERS BELOW:
Esti’s relationship with David is much more about her relationship with her religion than it is about him. He’s nice, he’s an old friend, he’s the best she could hope for while remaining part of an observant community, where arranged marriages are the norm and not marrying and not having kids is not an option. Leaving him is the same thing as leaving her faith and her entire community, and it’s the latter two that she’s actually conflicted about.
I don’t get what it means to accuse Ronit of being “an orthodox manic pixie dreamgirl”? For one, she’s decidedly not observant. Manic pixie dreamgirl who swoops in to save her love interest and change her life? Quite the opposite—it was Esti who thought about her every day after she left, Esti who set in motion Ronit’s arrival in London, and Esti who made an overture towards her. It’s not immediately obvious, but the entire plot revolves around Esti’s decisions and actions, and I can’t think of anything queerer or more feminist than that.