This is a sensual, sexual and shocking film unveiling unorthodox relationships in an Orthodox Jewish setting. Academy Award winning director Sebastián Lelio draws brave performances in a graphic sex scene from Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz who play women with history that caused one to be an outcast.
Lelio who won the Oscar for best foreign film, Fantastic Woman, this year. told us in our interview that not only is this his first English language film, it’s about a world he knew nothing about. Lelio is neither British, nor Jewish. He had some 12 consultants to bring him up to speed on Jewish Orthodox culture and terminology, as well as English and laughed admitting that some didn’t always agree with each other and even themselves.
Rachel Weisz is Jewish, and reading the novel by Naomi Alderman upon which the film is based, she realized she grew up in London near where the Orthodox Jewish enclave described in the novel takes place. Weisz decided to produce and star, inviting Lelio to direct. He co-wrote the script with Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida, Colette). Lelio has already left his mark empowering Daniela Vega as Marina in his Oscar award-winning Fantastic Woman about a transgender woman rejected by her male lover’s family after his sudden death.
Here, too, a woman is rejected because of her emotional attachment, but this time, to another woman. Ronit is a New York photographer who left London when the Orthodox community ostracized her for the unacceptable mutual attraction between she and childhood girlfriend, Esti (Rachel McAdams). They were both close friends of Dovid (Allesandro Nivola), who ended up marrying Esti. Ronit’s father is the Rabbi of the Orthodox congregation. When he dies suddenly, the shunned Ronit comes back for the funeral which brings up the old wounds she left behind. Dovid is next in line to lead the congregation as their new Rabbi which brings more pressure.
The film follows the emotional journey of the three childhood friends and how their relationships affected their adult lives. Ronit never married. Dovid did and now his wife, Esti exists adhering to their religious and cultural restrictions and her husband’s wishes which include sex once a week on Friday night. All three love each other but are they honest with themselves and each other? Ronit and Esti’s relationship snaps back and builds from the time they see each other again until the ultimate crescendo.
The love/sex scene between Ronit (Weisz) and Esti (McAdams) may be the most intensely intimate, emotional lesbian pairing you’ve seen. To Lelio and Weisz, it’s the heart of this film. For 6 minutes, both actresses go full on, completely uninhibited in front of the camera kissing and touching every inch of each other shot from every possible angle. But the director says says, the focus is on their faces. The scene, as story boarded by Lelio, was not supposed to be that long, but when they went with it, he did, too. There is even some unexpected spitting. It is a little disturbing and out of character.
But the story is also about freedom, family, friendship, religion and empowerment. Dovid suspects something has changed and confronts Esti. She painfully confronts herself and him. There’s another round of self-examination on all of their parts. McAdams does an incredible job of holding back and letting go completely.
Lelio captures the characters so you get inside their heads. He also does a good job capturing what an Orthodox enclave in London is like. British Cinematographer, Danny Cohen, captures the closeness and religious restrictions of the community all wearing black hats and women keeping arms and legs covered as well as wearing wigs. Men and women sit separated in synagogue. The starkness of the cool color tones is evident and juxtaposed with the flesh tones of extreme emotion.
This is a very serious film examining the restrictions people put on themselves by deciding how they live. Will they challenge their faith? Will there be a happy ending? Lelio has created an emotional quandry expressed in courageous performances by Weisz, McAdams and Nivola. It’s an examination of a sexuality and culture, this time, seen through the eyes of two fascinating women.
Bleecker Street 114 minutes R
