Disobedience (2017)

Jack and I really liked this story of Ronit (roe-NEET), a woman returning from New York for her father's funeral in the London Orthodox Jewish community she left under a cloud. The audience's discovery of what drove her away isn't shown right away but every description, the trailer, and even the poster, will tell you that she had a sexual relationship with another woman, Esti (ES-tee).

Rachels Wiesz (pronounced vice) and McAdams (last blogged for Denial and Game Night, respectively) are terrific as Ronit and Esti, the former a modern cosmopolitan and the latter trapped in the traditional customs of her faith. As the third side of the love triangle, Alessandro Nivola turns in a powerful performance as Dovid (dah-VEED), childhood friend of both and husband of Esti. Every time I write about Nivola--most reecently in Ginger & Rosa--I mention how handsome he is. This time I can honestly cite his acting talent, which is prodigious.

Director/co-writer Sebastián Lelio (did the same for A Fantastic Woman) makes his English language debut, aided on the script by co-writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (she co-wrote Ida, though I forgot to say so in that post). They adapted Naomi Alderman's 2006 debut novel of the same name. Lelio has said that he wasn't sure until the first day of shooting whether or not Weisz and McAdams would have the right chemistry. They do, indeed.

Cinematographer Danny Cohen gives us many shades of gray, literally, in a film shot in color, just as he did in Final Portrait.

Interesting factoid: Weisz, who co-produced this, is 48 and announced her pregnancy, with husband actor Daniel Craig, in April. Her first child, with director Darren Aronofsky, was born in 2006.

Matthew Herbert (last scored A Fantastic Woman) gives us eerie music that you can stream from this playlist. Love Song by The Cure is also played during the movie.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 85% to its audiences' 78. You should see this but don't bring your kids. Rated R for "strong sexuality," you'll either want to protect them from seeing it or from being in the same room with you when they do.