Disobedience

A contemporary prodigal-daughter drama, Disobedience is set against the backdrop of the Orthodox Jewish community in Hendon, the North London suburb where it was filmed. Based on Naomi Alderman's semi-autobiographical, Orange prize-winning novel - incendiary for its challenge to the antiquated strictures of Judaism and its daring lesbian plot - it is the English-language debut of Chilean-Argentine director Sebastián Lelio, whose Oscar-winning transgender drama A Fantastic Woman made such a splash in 2018. Applying a much less colourful palette to this downbeat slice-of-life, Lelio benefits from the vivacity and depth Rachel Weisz brings to Ronit, the estranged daughter of a rabbi (Anton Lesser) whose death recalls her from New York where she works as a photographer. The visit stirs up resentments and tensions from the past, most devastatingly between her two oldest friends, buttoned-up rabbi Dovid (Alessandro Nivola, on fine form) and teacher Esti (Rachel McAdams, with a note-perfect English accent), now his wife. Relics from the past among her father's effects conspire to dampen Ronit's free spirit, and while she reawakens Esti's passion, Lelio intelligently captures a time and place, offering a candid insight into a cloistered culture that refuses to take sides.