This film tells the story of a disgraced Jewish woman who returns home uninvited.The topic of this film is quite possibly under represented in the cinema, so it is refreshing to have a film on this topic. It is a great plus to see two very good actresses as the lead, and I am particularly impressed that they are willing to star in this film. As for the film itself, I find it way too slow. I got so bored that I had to watch it at 1.5 times the speed after just 30 minutes. Even then, I still thought the pacing was slow. By the time the emotional climax arrives, I was already rather indifferent to the outcome of the story. Though I think it is an alright film, it does require extensive editing to speed the film up.

A tale of forbidden love in a society secluded by religion, Disobedience explores the boundaries of faith & sexuality through two women who conduct a passionate affair after being reunited by a tragedy, and the film benefits a lot from Sebastián Lelio's concise direction and a sparkling chemistry between its leading ladies.The story of Disobedience follows a woman who, after learning about the news of her father's death, revisits her Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her for a transgression many years ago where she reunites with her childhood friend. But as days pass, their passions reignite and they begin their secret romance once again.Co-written & directed by Sebastián Lelio (known for A Fantastic Woman & Gloria), there is tension in the air evident from the moment our exiled protagonist returns to her residence and it only magnifies when her old flame comes into the picture. Lelio approaches the subject with patience but he still ends up hitting a few snags.Disobedience is tense & gripping whenever the screen is shared by the two Rachels and quite a chore when it isn't. You can actually sense a history between them from the moment they are in the same room and it only gets more riveting from that point onwards. But dialogues isn't its strongest suit, and the slow pace doesn't help either.What binds it together, however, is the sizzling chemistry between Rachel Weisz & Rachel McAdams as both actresses challenge & uplift each other's performances, and share a bond that has a genuine depth & weight to it. Alessandro Nivola is just as committed to his role but he is easily overshadowed by the combined strength of two Rachels.On an overall scale, Disobedience is a well directed, finely scripted & strongly acted examination of love, faith, sexuality & freedom that won't appease all. Inclining more towards arthouse cinema than mainstream entertainment, the film is going to be rich & rewarding for some while others may find its glacially moving plot a little tedious & infuriating. Still, it's worth a shot for Weisz & McAdams' intense & passionate sexual chemistry alone.

One thing needs to be said at the very beginning: Disobedience isn't a movie for everybody. I don't mean that in reference to the story, which in itself may be seen as quite controversial, as I think anyone deciding to watch the movie more or less knows what it is about. I'm talking about the pacing of the movie and the style in which it is shot. I've seen that this in a divisive issue and I can see why.To put it plainly: the movie is slow. Really slow. In a different movie with a different director the same story could have probably been told in an hour instead of two hours. For an audience used to the quick pace of modern cinema this can be a problem, but I found it wonderfully refreshing. Because the movie takes its time telling the story and building the characters, the feeling I got while watching it was that of calm and quiet. It's all the more interesting seeing that similar stories of forbidden love and faith versus sexuality are often told in a very dramatic way. In Disobedience no one shouts or even talks about their feelings and yet these feelings are still perfectly clear. This shows that with good actors, there is no need to state certain things overtly.Which leads me to acting. I really liked every single performance in the movie. Rachel Weisz is perfect as an outsider in a community that was once her own and a freethinker ready to fight for her love and freedom. Rachel McAdams is brilliant as a wife trying to both love her husband and follow the laws of her religion, and be herself and love a woman. But my favorite performance in the movie is Alessandro Nivola as a deeply hurt husband of a woman who may not really love him. All the characters are fully believable and psychologically complex, and each performance is moving in its own way.The music and the cinematography fit the story perfectly. They underline the calm feeling and add a touch of melancholy to what is quite a sad story. The coloring is quite subdued, which is perfect, as anything bright would go against the spirit of the movie.Lastly, I have to add that the movie is also a fascinating picture of the Jewish culture. I know very little about Judaism or Jewish traditions, so the opportunity to see what is looks like "from the inside" is really interesting, even if there are some aspects I don't fully understand.All in all, the movie is a very solid piece of cinema. It tells a complex story with using quite a minimalist technique and in my opinion the effect is very good. I would recommend it to anyone who isn't scared of a slow pace and having to read the emotions of the characters instead being told about them.

Rachel Weisz stars as a Rabbi's daughter returning to an Orthodox Jewish community that's shunned her because she didn't want to adopt their ways. This is a common problem in Orthodox communities when people choose a different belief system than the one they were raised with. It presents a myriad of challenges to navigate and this film portrays it with the utmost delicacy.The film has a brilliant pseudo-horror vibe with the voyeuristic looks that her disapproving peers inflict upon her with as she sits with them at dinner or walks through the streets alongside them. The film is advertised as a film about a lesbian relationship, but it's really a film about free will because being in a pre-marital sexual relationship, dating a secular jew, even having secular Jews in your friend circle or getting an education all lead to the same end result of shunning anyways. Perhaps it's my experience in this type of community, but the film is beautiful, spot-on, tense, sexy , and treats each of the three leads (Rachel McAdams and Allesandro Nivola) and their character arcs with a great sense of resepct.