Disobedience
Director: Sebastian Lelio

A subtlety as fine and brittle as bone china distinguishes this drama of thwarted love among the faithful. It’s the work of Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, adapting from Naomi Alderman’s novel for his English-language debut. Rachel Weisz stars as Ronit, an expat photographer in New York who is convulsed by news from home. Her widowed father, chief rabbi of an orthodox community in north London, has died suddenly.

Ronit’s reappearance, while the family sit shiva, is unexpected, and somewhat unwelcome: having flown the coop years ago she was unreconciled with her father to the last. The newspaper obituary claims he left no children, but here she is, a living revenant. Her coolly distant relatives greet her with the traditional “May you live a long life” (translation: please drop dead).