I have given this movie a three out of ten not because it is a bad movie, in fact it isn't. The acting is great. The story, although sad, is decent enough and the setting, although dominated by drab grey is okay, if not a little dull. You can say that while it isn't a master piece, it is an okay movie.
So why the low score? This is because the movie infuriated me.
Let me explain(spoilers ahead).
Contrary to what you might think the central character in this story is not Rachel Weisz although the story is told from her perspective. In fact it is Rachel McAdams. She is married to Alessandro Nivola and they are part of a orthodox Jewish community. In fact he is a Rabbi. The three of them used to be friends until Weisz left one day for New York. The movie kicks off when Weisz decides to return after hearing that her father has died.
The center theme in this movie is duty versus freedom and this is expressed quite bluntly at some point when McAdams asks her husband to set her free and tells him that she is pregnant and does not want her child to grow up in a world that left her no choice. Another blunt moment is when Nivola makes a speech about duty near the end of the movie.
The movie is quite blunt in other things too. For instance, Weisz finds out that almost nobody wanted her to come back and this is pointed out by a newspaper article that says that her father died childless and when she hears her father left her nothing in his will. Her existence is not merely denied: she doesn't exist. There is more. When she enters her father's house together with McAdams the song Lovesong by The Cure is played and specifically these lines: Whenever I'm alone with you make me feel like I am home again. But even more! Prior to Weisz leaving New York we get an unloving short sex scene between her and a man that is contrasted against the drawn out sex scene between Weisz and McAdams later in the movie. In fact any sex that is mentioned with a man is made out to be obligatory and loveless.
During the movie we get a few things revealed. The two women had a love relation, something that is and was unacceptable in the community. Nivola and McAdams married because he wanted to help her get over 'it' and she was told that she was not right in her head(this is literal from the movie). We also get told that McAdams was the one who informed Weisz about the death of her father and that she did it deliberately to get Weisz to come back. The two girls always were attracted to women, but they never did anything with it, not even Weisz who had broken with the shackles of her past. In fact we are told that she never met anyone and apparently engaged in quickies with men.
Essentially the movie is because McAdams informed Weisz about her fathers death. This made the latter come over from the US and this is what McAdams wanted. You would then expect that this would result in something but this is not what happens. In fact McAdams is almost unseen in the first part of the movie and the two girls hardly respond to each other. And then suddenly about a third in they hit it off which cumulates into a long sex scene about halfway in. Then the movie see-saws as McAdams cannot make up her mind and Weisz not doing much more than trying to flee. Eventually this leads to the moment where McAdams asks her freedom from Nivola. Which then is totally undone when Nivola makes a speech in the Synagogue that comes down to: duty is important.
Weisz doesn't have any kind of character arc. She is the same as when the movie started and her trick is to flee. But fleeing has gained her nothing. She is a lonely figure who has quick sex with men whom she doesn't love and she has no family and probably dies a lonely death. She has become nothing.
McAdams has a character arc of sorts but it is only to make her end up where she started. McAdams might not have found love but she had found her role in life: that of being the mother of her child and the wife of her husband. She has become something.
What infuriates me is that the whole movie is aimed at rubbing this is by leaving no alternatives. The whole 'lesbian' affaire is there to contrast the two women and the whole story railroads them to an outcome.
But what takes the cake is near the end. Weisz drives of in a taxi, but McAdams runs after her. They kiss passionately and then nothing happens. Yeah, they wanted to make sure you go the message.
So why the low score? This is because the movie infuriated me.
Let me explain(spoilers ahead).
Contrary to what you might think the central character in this story is not Rachel Weisz although the story is told from her perspective. In fact it is Rachel McAdams. She is married to Alessandro Nivola and they are part of a orthodox Jewish community. In fact he is a Rabbi. The three of them used to be friends until Weisz left one day for New York. The movie kicks off when Weisz decides to return after hearing that her father has died.
The center theme in this movie is duty versus freedom and this is expressed quite bluntly at some point when McAdams asks her husband to set her free and tells him that she is pregnant and does not want her child to grow up in a world that left her no choice. Another blunt moment is when Nivola makes a speech about duty near the end of the movie.
The movie is quite blunt in other things too. For instance, Weisz finds out that almost nobody wanted her to come back and this is pointed out by a newspaper article that says that her father died childless and when she hears her father left her nothing in his will. Her existence is not merely denied: she doesn't exist. There is more. When she enters her father's house together with McAdams the song Lovesong by The Cure is played and specifically these lines: Whenever I'm alone with you make me feel like I am home again. But even more! Prior to Weisz leaving New York we get an unloving short sex scene between her and a man that is contrasted against the drawn out sex scene between Weisz and McAdams later in the movie. In fact any sex that is mentioned with a man is made out to be obligatory and loveless.
During the movie we get a few things revealed. The two women had a love relation, something that is and was unacceptable in the community. Nivola and McAdams married because he wanted to help her get over 'it' and she was told that she was not right in her head(this is literal from the movie). We also get told that McAdams was the one who informed Weisz about the death of her father and that she did it deliberately to get Weisz to come back. The two girls always were attracted to women, but they never did anything with it, not even Weisz who had broken with the shackles of her past. In fact we are told that she never met anyone and apparently engaged in quickies with men.
Essentially the movie is because McAdams informed Weisz about her fathers death. This made the latter come over from the US and this is what McAdams wanted. You would then expect that this would result in something but this is not what happens. In fact McAdams is almost unseen in the first part of the movie and the two girls hardly respond to each other. And then suddenly about a third in they hit it off which cumulates into a long sex scene about halfway in. Then the movie see-saws as McAdams cannot make up her mind and Weisz not doing much more than trying to flee. Eventually this leads to the moment where McAdams asks her freedom from Nivola. Which then is totally undone when Nivola makes a speech in the Synagogue that comes down to: duty is important.
Weisz doesn't have any kind of character arc. She is the same as when the movie started and her trick is to flee. But fleeing has gained her nothing. She is a lonely figure who has quick sex with men whom she doesn't love and she has no family and probably dies a lonely death. She has become nothing.
McAdams has a character arc of sorts but it is only to make her end up where she started. McAdams might not have found love but she had found her role in life: that of being the mother of her child and the wife of her husband. She has become something.
What infuriates me is that the whole movie is aimed at rubbing this is by leaving no alternatives. The whole 'lesbian' affaire is there to contrast the two women and the whole story railroads them to an outcome.
But what takes the cake is near the end. Weisz drives of in a taxi, but McAdams runs after her. They kiss passionately and then nothing happens. Yeah, they wanted to make sure you go the message.