Chilean-Argentine director Sebastián Lelio seems to have a special instinct for understanding the female psyche. In 2017, his film ‘A Fantastic Woman’ hit the screens with enormous impact and gained him the Oscar for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’, among a clutch of awards from festivals all over the world. His new film DISOBEDIENCE (2018) explores a love affair between Ronit Krushka (played by Rachel Weisz) and Esti Kuperman (Rachel McAdams) in a closely-knit Hassidic Community in North London.
This sensitive film examines the emotions of the two women and, in particular, the effect it has on Esti’s husband Dovid Kuperman, whose journey, in a sense, becomes the focus of the film. Alessandro Nivola excels in this role being totally mesmerizing on screen. Dovid is a complex and fascinating character, and Lelio himself admits he was the hardest character to write about: -
“I loved the sound of the story and was attracted to the character’s journey in this impossible situation- vibrant people against a background of fixed ideas and concepts. It shows the reality of how messy life can get and how one tries to get to terms with it. It felt familiar, I felt I could understand the material and connect to the human dilemmas… As screenwriters, we had a lot of conversations re- Dovid and audience sympathies – we discussed, when writing, how to understand the community. It’s too easy to make the community the antagonistic force. It was far more interesting to see the more antagonistic forces [that] arise from the character’s feelings, and what they thought, and what took their lives into the crisis… As a result, Dovid was the hardest character to write- he is a scholar and an intellectual, he is masculine and a refined human being, extremely complex, a number of ingredients to weld together.”
Though the love affair between the two women is emotional and believable, it is Dovid and how he deals with the situation that brought the conflict to the heart to this story. The type of masculinity that is expressed in this role is compelling and fascinating. It would be more typical to expect Dovid to be overcome with jealousy, and yet, that is only one factor in the wealth of emotions that are unleashed. As Alessandro Nivola says: -
“It was very interesting that Sebastian had written Dovid to actually become Ronit’s greatest defender, protecting her, showing compassion and love despite her presence shaking the ground under him, he still defends her. Dovid is a great character that brings great tension to every scene.”
The story opens a small window into the everyday life within an Hasidic Community, it was like peeling away layers gradually, but it was interesting that despite the depth of pain that the characters feel, the level of rage and distress, there is never any physical violence. Despite that, the claustrophobic atmosphere of the community life pervades almost every scene, from the very tight and uncomfortable dinner scene, to the feeling that Ronit and Esti are constantly being watched.
Alessandro Nivola admits that Dovid was not an easy character to inhabit. He was initially surprised that he had been cast in the role being an American and considers it to be the biggest challenge in his career so far: -
“I have made a career of taking roles that are nothing like me. I got enthusiastic about entering a world to which I had never had any access. I live in Brooklyn and I [often] walk through a Jewish neighbourhood community where I am always aware [that] I am not seen… I do not exist … it is an inaccessible and insular world and it’s now a thrill to have been able to enter.”
There were many developments during the filming, so that scenes where Dovid is driven to extremes …”getting drunk and entering his house like a bull in a china shop”, were edited out so that[in the end] the character expresses a different kind of power, despite having a boiling rage inside.
The relationship between Ronit and Esti is also tightly controlled. At the start, they resist their emotions and try to play down their passion. Eventually they are overwhelmed and their true feelings come out. The love scene is sensitive and powerfully played, with a high level of sensuality and passion. As Alessandro Nivola comments: -
“By chance, both actresses fell pregnant for real, after the spitting-into-mouth scene, and now they both have brand-new babies [in real life]!”
Lelio was born and raised a Catholic and the cast were all concerned that they should be true to the Hassidic traditions being expressed in the film. In the Tribeca Film Festival there were some people from the community present and although there were no ‘long discussions about lesbianism in the community” they did not feel they had been misrepresented.
The DOP (Director of Photography) Danny Cohen effectively manipulated the depth of field and the framing of the shots. He used these elements to accentuate the portrayals of characters in turmoil. As Lelio explains: -
“… the strategy was always the same. The decision was already in the writing. And the mise-en-scène was always to have one of the main characters in frame, even in reverse shots at a table, not always one of the three leads, but to see at least a part of them, a shoulder … this invites the spectator to feel everything through the characters, through their skin. It is a strong and emotional connection. This [same] strategy was used in the sex scene, as it is always about them. The scene was constructed on that premise,so that the characters drive the film, despite visual passages without any dialogue. This strategy helps you to feel what they are feeling and sense what they are thinking.”
Shooting a film can have unexpected consequences once you see the ‘rushes’. Alessandro Nivola explains why his final speech had to be reshot: -
“Sebastian came up to me and said: … er…the scene is fine, the performance is fine, but please don’t put your hand in your pocket! It looks obscene! …he was right…I realized it looked as if I was fondling myself or something!”
The novel has a different ending as can often happen with adaptations, different mediums demanding different resolutions. The author of the book with the same name (Naomi Alderman) was ‘generous’ and allowed the changes to take place.
DISOBEDIENCE was released in the UK on November 30th 2018.
Director Sebastian Lelio
Screenplay Sebastian Lelio/ Rebecca Lenkiewicz from a book by Naomi Alderman
DOP Danny Cohen
Production Rachel Weisz/Frida Torresblanco /Geneviève Lemal / Naomi Alderman and others.
Editing Nathan Nugent
Cast Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola, Anton Lesser
