Disobedience (2018) Review

"I think he felt that marriage would cure me."

-Esti Kuperman

After hearing about the death of her father, Ronit Krushka (Rachel Weisz), a New York photographer, returns to her hometown, an Orthodox Jewish community in England.  Ronit left the community because she refused to follow their rules and because she was caught in a lesbian relationship.  Ronit returns and is passive-aggresivly shunned by most of the community.  Her old best friend, Dovid Kuperman (Alessandro Nivola), allows Ronit to stay in his house.  Dovid is preparing to be the replacement for Ronit's father in the community.  Ronit is shocked to discover that Dovid has married her teenage lover, Esti (Rachel McAdams), who is a lesbian, but has done her best to be a good Jewish wife to avoid being shunned.  It doesn't take long for Ronit and Estie to rekindle their relationship, but no one can keep a secret in this community and Estie has to figure out what to do as Dovid finds out what's going on.

What Works:

The acting in this movie is superb.  All three of the leads really get to shine with complex performances.  There are moments throughout the film where you love them and hate them, but mostly you feel bad for them.  They make very human decisions, and that means making mistakes.  It can be frustrating when your feelings about the lead characters fluctuate so much, but this movie makes it work because the performances are just so good.

The story is also very emotional.  It's a really sad story because these characters are trapped in a crappy situation because of the religious community they were born into.  They didn't have a choice, which is one of the main themes of the movie.  It's sad because they are suffering, but they didn't do anything wrong.  

Disobedience is also rage-inducing.  Seeing how the other members of the community treat Ronit and Estie makes me want to slap someone.  At one point, Ronit and Estie are about to be caught making out.  A couple walks in on them, and Ronit intercepts and tries distracting them.  They catch a glimpse of Estie, but they can't be 100% it was her.  So what do they do?  They go to where Estie works and tell her boss!  Who does that!?  Plus some of the elders are so passive-agressive that it's enraging.  Fortunately, Ronit doesn't tolerate that any more and dishes it right back.  Basically, you just feel so bad for the characters that it makes the movie that much more engaging.

What Sucks:

It takes a while for Disobedience to get interesting.  The first act of the movie is so passive-aggressive that it's hard to tell character's relationships to each other.  I get that it's probably being realistic, but it's tough to latch on to characters and a story when nobody is being direct.  Eventually they do of course, but the first act is still a bit frustrating.

Finally, the movie is maybe 5 minutes too long.  There is a scene where Dovid gives a speech that is very powerful.  I think the movie should have ended just after his speech.  This was the emotional climax of the movie.  Instead, we go on for about 5 more minutes, which does take away from the impact of his speech and gives us a less-emotionally satisfying ending.  I know this movie is based on a book, but if this is how the book ended, than maybe the book was a few pages too long.

Verdict:

Disobedience is a well-acted, emotionally draining film.  The writing for the characters is excellent, and gives us very complex people in drama.  The first act isn't great and it's a little long, but Disobedience has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good