Disobedience , the first English-language feature by Chilean director Sebastián Lelio (Gloria, A Fantastic Woman), considers the constrictive nature of traditional Jewish culture, particularly as it impacts the lives of women and homosexuals who grow up within it. The film tells the story of a woman named Ronit (Rachel Weisz), the estranged daughter of a prominent Orthodox rabbi, who returns to the close-knit Jewish community of her youth after her father dies. Having lived amid secular society for years, she inspires contempt in many of her relatives and old acquaintances upon her return; they look down on her (some of them more openly than others) for not being a practicing Jew and for expressing little desire to marry or have children. Two of her childhood friends, Dovid (Alessandro Nivola) and Esti (Rachel McAdams), welcome her back, however, and let her stay in their home. This leads to problems when it comes out that Ronit and Esti were in love as teenagers and still experience desire for one another. As homosexuality is taboo in Orthodox Judaism, the women face persecution once their secret is revealed, and Esti struggles to reconcile her love for Ronit with her religious faith.
Lelio and cowriter Rebecca Leniewicz also fail to develop Dovid’s character
to a satisfying degree. The protege of Ronit’s late father, Dovid applies
himself to rabbinical studies with the same devotion he brings to his
marriage to Esti. He’s a sensitive soul who clearly wants his wife to be
happy, yet the movie is elusive about where his sensitivity comes from.
Dovid’s reaction to the women’s romance is oddly understated—it’s possible
that he feels stifled under Orthodox culture as well, but the movie
provides so little information about his background that it’s difficult to
say for certain. The filmmakers operate under the presumption that any
sensitive soul would reject a repressive, homophobic culture on principle,
and in doing so they trivialize the culture they wish to explore. v
Directed by Sebastián Lelio. R, 114 min.
