Nobody will deny that erotic scenes between Rachel W. and Rachel M. are quite an asset; however, this movie is far from perfect. It seems like the movie actually does not bring much new, except for the picture of a desire forbidden in a certain community, along with the women emancipation, again, forbidden in a certain community. This is all pretty much seen in like 80% of LGBT movie, so the viewer more or less pretty much knows what every next scene will be about. There are a lot of cliches. The narration is too slow for a plot that already contains common places. The plot is actually quite explosive taken as an idea, but the script, the story in itself, does not allow characters to develop fully, they stay quite unmotivated in number of situations, and the minimalism of dialogues is not very well done.
Still there are some intriguing points worth mentioning. One is a picante trigger created around Esti, the character played masterfully by Rachel McAdams, rabi's wife and school teacher, who quite happily made an escape to a reunion lesbian sex, with her ex lover, Ronnit, without much hesitation, immediately when she had a chance - the audience might expect a little bit more hesitation about it, but there was no any. After Esti's and Ronnit's conversation, we soon realize why. The shy and decent rabi's wife, actually identifies herself completely as woman-to-woman sex oriented, and she is pretty much faking her performance in her married life, simply because she enjoys other things about her status - respectable school teacher who loves her job, and loves the community she lives in. So, contrary to expectations, the rebellious Ronnit who paid a huge price for loving Esti in the early youth is not the one who is "the queerest" part of the story. Esti and her marriage to a childhood friend who knows his wife is into women is much more queer than Ronnit, whose is more like a sexually fluid and haunted by her father's decision to disown her, than really "the lesbian". This shift in expectation from these two characters is interesting, and it explains why, in the end, what exists between them is more childhood friendship and a huge sexual lust for each other, accumulated by the resistance and abstinence, than a mature love. However, the complications show up, since even faked sex with the man can bring a woman to pregnancy, and this is how Esti all of a sudden has to decide what she wants not just for herself, but also for her unborn child.
Still the end of the film is its weakest part. In the end, Esti, realizing that her husband (former childhood friend) will never stop her from leaving, dismisses the idea of actual leaving with or without Ronnit and consummating the sexual and romantic freedom, or raising a child outside the Orthodox rigidity. It seems her husband's readiness to let her go if she wants so, which looks a bit hasted and non-convincing, gives her enough motivation to stay in this faked marriage, deliver the child and maintain the order, with everybody's blessing. Also, it seems that Ronnit's only real sin was not being in love with a woman at the time, but wanting to show it openly, and its not quite clear why she never openly condemns her community for expelling her for being truthful. And finally, the end in which Esti stays where she is, still sexually crazy about Ronnit, but ready to continue with her faked life, looks like a bad solution. It sends a message that a freedom to chose a faked life is more important than living a real life in accordance to your real interests and passions. To me it looks like a painful self-denial which will kill Esti this way or another. However, the movie does not acknowledge this concern, in the end everybody behaves as if Esti's choice is a smart thing to do, while Ronnit also behaves as if its understandable that her father loved Torah more than her, and never really reached out to her. In the end, there is too much abolition of the lifestyle that is so apparently so repressive for women, and pushes them to doing naughty things only in deepest secrecy. Too much of a lie for my taste.
Still there are some intriguing points worth mentioning. One is a picante trigger created around Esti, the character played masterfully by Rachel McAdams, rabi's wife and school teacher, who quite happily made an escape to a reunion lesbian sex, with her ex lover, Ronnit, without much hesitation, immediately when she had a chance - the audience might expect a little bit more hesitation about it, but there was no any. After Esti's and Ronnit's conversation, we soon realize why. The shy and decent rabi's wife, actually identifies herself completely as woman-to-woman sex oriented, and she is pretty much faking her performance in her married life, simply because she enjoys other things about her status - respectable school teacher who loves her job, and loves the community she lives in. So, contrary to expectations, the rebellious Ronnit who paid a huge price for loving Esti in the early youth is not the one who is "the queerest" part of the story. Esti and her marriage to a childhood friend who knows his wife is into women is much more queer than Ronnit, whose is more like a sexually fluid and haunted by her father's decision to disown her, than really "the lesbian". This shift in expectation from these two characters is interesting, and it explains why, in the end, what exists between them is more childhood friendship and a huge sexual lust for each other, accumulated by the resistance and abstinence, than a mature love. However, the complications show up, since even faked sex with the man can bring a woman to pregnancy, and this is how Esti all of a sudden has to decide what she wants not just for herself, but also for her unborn child.
Still the end of the film is its weakest part. In the end, Esti, realizing that her husband (former childhood friend) will never stop her from leaving, dismisses the idea of actual leaving with or without Ronnit and consummating the sexual and romantic freedom, or raising a child outside the Orthodox rigidity. It seems her husband's readiness to let her go if she wants so, which looks a bit hasted and non-convincing, gives her enough motivation to stay in this faked marriage, deliver the child and maintain the order, with everybody's blessing. Also, it seems that Ronnit's only real sin was not being in love with a woman at the time, but wanting to show it openly, and its not quite clear why she never openly condemns her community for expelling her for being truthful. And finally, the end in which Esti stays where she is, still sexually crazy about Ronnit, but ready to continue with her faked life, looks like a bad solution. It sends a message that a freedom to chose a faked life is more important than living a real life in accordance to your real interests and passions. To me it looks like a painful self-denial which will kill Esti this way or another. However, the movie does not acknowledge this concern, in the end everybody behaves as if Esti's choice is a smart thing to do, while Ronnit also behaves as if its understandable that her father loved Torah more than her, and never really reached out to her. In the end, there is too much abolition of the lifestyle that is so apparently so repressive for women, and pushes them to doing naughty things only in deepest secrecy. Too much of a lie for my taste.