Dec 1, 2018 - It is set in the orthodox Jewish community in north London, but its ... community stronger than love? Are ... With her wild long hair and leather.
Perspectives
Curzon Artificial Eye
Film Breaking the rules
Curzon Artificial Eye
Disobedience Directed by Sebastián Lelio, produced by Frida Torresblanco, Ed Guiney, and Rachel Weisz. Curzon Artificial Eye, 2018 https://www.curzonartificialeye. com/disobedience/
Disobedience, the first novel by Naomi Alderman, author of The Power, which won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2017, has been made into a film directed by Sebastián Lelio, and co-written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz. It is set in the orthodox Jewish community in north London, but its themes have a more universal resonance. Is community stronger than love? Are rules more important than individual expression? Who is allowed to express their true sexuality and what happens to those who do? The film starts with an old man, Rav Krushka (Anton Lesser), speaking to his congregation about the human burden of choice. The men sit in the main part of the room, the women together at the back, an ironic reminder of the highly subjective nature of choice. He collapses midsentence and dies soon after. The Rav’s daughter, Ronit, (Rachel Weisz), a photographer in New York, receives the news of her father’s death during a session taking pictures of heavily tattooed models. She goes drinking, has sex with a stranger, and then goes ice skating. On initial viewing, these activities feel like typical responses to shock. But they are also expressive of how she has lived life at odds with her community of origin. Alcohol and
sex outside marriage may be obvious reactions, but her skating on ice later seems to symbolise the fragility of her position as regards her community. On Ronit’s return to London, all is not quite what it seems. She is let into the house with great awkwardness by her childhood friend Dovid (Alessandro Nivola). The mourners in the house are clearly surprised to see her, even at her own father’s funeral.
“The film looks at the question of agency and who has it and how it is used…” They tell her “May you live a long life”, but this traditional phrase, said at a time of mourning, starts to feel less like a blessing than a warding-off. From this moment on, the film dives deeper. We are led into a web of interpersonal relationships but simultaneously left to guess at them, which is a strong theme throughout. There is a richness to the cinematography and an energy between the characters that is palpable and deeply connected. There was clearly a powerful bond between Ronit, Dovid (who was like a son to her father and is being prepared to take his role at the synagogue), and her friend Esti (played by Rachel McAdams with a real delicacy and underlying strength),
who she discovers have married each other since she last saw them. With her wild long hair and leather jackets, Ronit is a striking contrast to the conservative appearance of the other women in her family, with their dark clothing and wigs. At Shabbat dinner she speaks more like a teenager about to leave home than a 30-something returner to the fold. There is kindness as well as bemusement from her relatives as she breaks taboos with her views on the non-essentialness of marriage and motherhood. Gradually, the previous relationship between Ronit and Esti, a deep passion, is revealed. It all feels exciting and much needed for Esti, who has compromised so many of her true desires and so much of her identity for so many years. It feels thrilling, this buried electricity between the two women in a heteronormative society that appears both to conceal so much and demand so much of its members. Of course, communities also provide support and holding in return for obeying rules. But there is very little space for queer love. When Ronit and Esti are spotted kissing and reported, it feels like a tragic, mythological intervention, and also incredibly unfair. Events return us to the theme of Ronit’s father’s sermon: choice. The ending of Disobedience may be unexpected to some, and disappoint those who wish that previously stigmatised love would vanquish prejudice and triumph over obligate marriage and parenthood. The film looks at the question of agency and who has it and how it is used—and not just that of women. And so Disobedience is also about courage. Sometimes the unpopular choice is the right one at the time.
Tania Glyde 2344
www.thelancet.com Vol 392 December 1, 2018
