In a Secluded Community, a Past Love is Rekindled

Rachel McAdams (left) and Rachel Weisz in "Disobedience"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

One of the most-fascinating aspects of the world is all of the cultures that are present.  Whether they be big or small, one can’t help but be curious about what occurs within them.  If you don’t know much about a groups’s way of life, cinema has the capability of opening a door to help us understand a culture about which we didn’t know much before.

That’s the case with Sebastián Lelio’s romantic-drama, “Disobedience,” which dives into a culture of solitude and how the people within that society go about their day-to-day lives.  With a trio of strong lead performances and a captivating story, Lelio offers an intimate look at a forbidden relationship.

Ronit (Rachel Weisz) is a photographer who has lived in New York City since leaving her Orthodox Jewish community in England years ago after being shunned for an attraction she had towards her childhood friend, Esti (Rachel McAdams).  When she receives word that her father has passed away, she travels back to her community to attend the services.  While there, she and Esti revisit the feelings they had for each other in the past.

Weisz’s performance brings to vivid life the feeling of isolation that her character feels when she’s back home.  Between being rejected from her people and feeling guilty over not being there for her father’s passing, it’s an emotional arc for her character to experience, and Weisz does a superb job at displaying the anger and sadness of being questioned about her life’s decisions and what she plans to do.  Weisz displays an expert approach to her character, presenting Ronit as detached because of how long she’s been away from her community, only coming alive when she’s with Esti.  It’s during these scenes where Weisz exhibits the happiness of her character reconnecting with a part of her life that’s been missing for all of these years, making a performance that’s as joyous as it is heartbreaking.

McAdams proves once again to be one of today’s most versatile actresses, giving us performances in hit comedies like “Mean Girls,” “Midnight in Paris,” and “Game Night” to thrillers like “Red Eye” and “State of Play” to an Oscar-nominated turn in the newspaper drama “Spotlight.”  She’s able to convey Esti’s inner turmoil of deciding to either follow her heart and be with Ronit, or remain with her husband (Alessandro Nivola).  McAdams’ work in this film establishes a new level of the dramatic depths into which she’s able to venture, especially in her powerful “I have always been this way” scene.  Throughout the film, you can see on McAdams’ face how her character’s trying to fight between expressing her sense of longing for Ronit and hiding it from others, which is a back-and-forth that’s one of the many accomplishments in how McAdams portrays Esti.

Nivola offers a wonderful performance as Esti’s husband, who’s studying to be the community’s next rabbi, intending to fill the position left by Ronit’s father.  Nivola presents a character who’s dedicated to his family and neighborhood, and you can’t help but admire the tenderness that he provides Esti, despite her having a difficult time reciprocating it.  What’s great about his character is that he’s more than just an unsuspecting husband, but instead has his own distinguished arc where he’s trying to live up to the expectations of his community and its faith.  Just as Ronit and Esti struggle with keeping up appearances of what their community thinks is appropriate, so to does Nivola’s character as he works hard to live up to Ronit’s father.  While Nivola’s been a character actor for most of his career, I’m hoping that this performance leads him to more-notable roles. 

The screenplay by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, which is based on Naomi Alderman’s 2006 novel, takes its time with establishing Ronit and Esti’s relationship.  Rather than go right into their romance, the narrative first explores Ronit’s disconnection from her community and how she tries to assimilate back into her old way of life during her time back home.  We’re given an idea of how her community functions and how the people within it go about their lives.  Because of this, once the story begins to focus more on Ronit and Esti’s relationship, the possible consequences from their community feel more real because we now have a better idea of the lifestyles of its inhabitants and the strict rules by which they abide, causing the audience to worry about what the future will be for the central relationship.

Through well-framed closeups, thanks to cinematography by Danny Cohen, and soft, intimate music from Matthew Herbert, Lelio provides an earnest feeling of love between Ronit and Esti. He doesn’t allow for it to get bogged down by excessive, Oscar-baiting sentimentality, but instead gives everything in the movie a feeling of genuineness.  With “Disobedience,” he invites us into a community that’s closed off from everything else and brings us a story that doesn’t know any cultural bounds.

Final grade: A