Disobedience

Disobedience (2017, Sebastián Lelio, UK) is based on the book “Disobedience,” by Naomi Alderman, telling the story of Ronit, (Rachel Weisz), facing her past. Many years after being banished from her small Jewish Orthodox town, Ronit comes back to mourn her father’s death. Her presence puts many locals on edge and they don’t hold back in expressing their disappointment in her “choice of lifestyle.” Ronit and Esti (Rachel McAdams) become closer, like they used to be when they were younger, and an affair ensues. Usually it’s hard to encourage a character to cheat on their partner but Rachel McAdams conveys Esti so vulnerably around her husband, Dovid, and free with Ronit, you can’t help but want Esti to be with Ronit. It’s exceptional acting by Weisz and McAdams to display such desirous adoration in a glance or a word, and have the audience’s support in being together, regardless of how wrong it may be. It’s impressive to be able to evoke that.

The editing stuck out to me. For having Ronit be the main character, they decided to show Esti more. A rule of editing: if you want the audience to have the perspective on one character, you stay on the character even as they don’t speak. You also do this to suggest that the character is lying or testing someone else. Frequently in this movie, a character would speak and the camera would stay on them to see their reaction. It worked in the beginning, when we didn’t know Ronit and Esti had romantic history, but after we learn how Esti feels, I felt I wasn’t getting anything out of it. There were times when I really wanted to see Ronit’s reactions or I wanted to see her say a certain line, but it’s not shown. It’s good for an audience to want to see this, but if you’re not doing it for an important reason, then the audience doesn’t feel satisfied. The story is supposed to be Ronit’s story, but with all of the perspectives, I’d sometimes forget that.

I believed the movie stayed true to the novel’s intent. Other reviewers say the film centralized the lesbian love aspect, rather than the conformity in the Jewish faith. This story, though truly a Jewish story, can be relatable to anyone with an obligation to be in obedience. Most people will have rebellious thoughts in there life some way or another. The love build up to the love scene, and the love scene itself, is essential to be momentous, as it is when Esti and Ronit decide to be disobedient and be in love. Disobedience is Rachel Weisz’s first film under her production company, LC6. Weisz wants to produce films with more positive representation of women and minorities, and she has been making great stands to get this done. In 2018 alone, Weisz starred in two films as an independent queer woman, central to the story. She is using her platform to speak up for normalizing influential women and the lgbtq community. I’m excited to see what she brings next.

“Look at me! I wanted it to happen! And when we were girls… even then it was the same! It’s always been this way! I have always wanted it.” — Esti