Disobedience
Bleecker Street Media | Release Date: April 27, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 3, 2018
The women are remarkable, unforgettable. But don’t overlook Nivola, an enigmatic figure as the rabbi and husband. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid Rooney
Beautifully acted by Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola as the three points of a melancholy romantic triangle, this is a deeply felt drama that exerts a powerful grip. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldMay 24, 2018
Disobedience unfolds quietly but passionately, with a generosity of spirit toward its three central characters. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMay 10, 2018
It is a love story, as beautiful as it is devastating. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 26, 2018
A gorgeously acted, written and directed spellbinder. Read full review
83
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerApr 30, 2018
The performances, like the film, are rich, layered things of tremendous feeling and complexity. The characters, like the film, are imperfect but well worthy of cherishing. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattApr 25, 2018
If the film itself feels like a little less than the sum of its provocative premise, it’s still moving in its own unshowy way: a quietly profound exploration of identity, sacrifice, and the connection all human beings long for, whether or not their God or their family or their community approves. Read full review
83
The PlaylistKevin Jagernauth
The elegance of Disobedience, which in the wrong hands could be sensational and one-dimensional, cannot be overstated. Read full review
83
The Film StageJared Mobarak
Disobedience‘s journey is one of authentic emotional honesty excelling in instances of insecurity and fear. Read full review
80
EmpireChloe CatchpoleDec 3, 2018
An understated yet profound examination of identity and self-sacrifice, this honest depiction of repressed romance will unashamedly tug at every heart string. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 3, 2018
Lelio, who also directed the excellent “Gloria” and last year’s Oscar winner for best foreign film, “A Fantastic Woman,” never shortchanges the desire or the faith, a neat balancing act between the competing elements at the heart of Disobedience, and the success of which makes it so compelling and worthwhile. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 26, 2018
As Lelio's earlier films demonstrated, the director's style is restrained but potent, which helps the impact of the actors' performances as well as the picture's fairly graphic love scene. The possibilities for these characters are more varied than it initially seems, and "Disobedience" thoughtfully considers them all. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
This is richly satisfying and powerfully acted work. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAllan Hunter
Leilo’s unassuming style serves the story and provides a great showcase for both performers. Read full review
80
VarietyAndrew Barker
None of these three characters are tidy, but neither is desire, nor faith, nor love, and Lelio resists every opportunity to make them so. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMay 9, 2018
All three principal actors – Weisz, McAdams, and Nivola – give effectively constrained performances. They work as a team here, consistent with the delicate balance in their characters’ complicated relationships with one another. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 18, 2018
A finely-acted tenterhooks drama about religion, sexuality, tradition and isolation. It is a movie grounded in a rigid hierarchy and ritual, but with a cruel undercurrent of despair. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 14, 2018
Lelio’s subdued approach to the material robs it of potential emotional power but also keeps the story grounded. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 4, 2018
Disobedience comes across as a challenging but also deeply respectful and thoughtful meditation on traditions and mores that date back thousands of years. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 3, 2018
Disobedience sometimes wants for rougher edges, and a fuller characterization for Weisz to play. But there’s real satisfaction in watching her, McAdams and Nivola inhabit a fraught and complicated relationship. Read full review
75
Washington PostMark JenkinsMay 1, 2018
Taking its cues from the religious severity of the community in which it’s set — and the London weather — Lelio’s latest film is austere, deliberate and rather chilly. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyApr 27, 2018
A good old-fashioned melodrama, albeit with a quieter touch. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartApr 26, 2018
McAdams gives one of the best performances of her career as her character wrestles with the enormous question of whether, and how, to give up everything she’s ever known. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyApr 25, 2018
Plotting has never been a strong suit for Lelio, who made his name with character studies of unconventional women. Here, he tries his hand at something akin to classicism, and ends up mounting a compelling drama. Curiously, its main shortcoming parallels the human flaw that is its main theme: our yearning to leave often loses out to our inability to let go. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrApr 25, 2018
McAdams and Weisz are on fire in Disobedience showing sides to their talents that we’ve never seen before in this truly unique film. Disobedience might not look like it’s for everyone on the surface, but its specificity is what makes it worthy and, almost, great. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezApr 11, 2018
In the end, Disobedience is less about the subjugation of the self to the group than the courage to embrace uncertainty if one were to break out of the prison of a world one has been born into. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid Ehrlich
Disobedience is a beautiful, fraught, and emotionally nuanced drama that wrestles with hard questions about the tension between the life we’re born into and the one we choose for ourselves. Read full review
70
Village VoiceApril WolfeMay 16, 2018
As a whole, the film is directionless, with few individual character-study scenes making it compelling enough. It’s almost as though there are miniature, worthy films within this film, and watching for those can be a thrill. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 10, 2018
Disobedience, based on a novel by Naomi Alderman, cuts deeper than your standard forbidden-love story, largely because the actors are so attuned to their characters’ anguish. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 26, 2018
Disobedience isn’t packed with surprises, but that’s not why you go to a movie like this. You go to watch humans with wayward emotions labor to make peace with (or opt to war against) a formal, ritualized way of life. Read full review
70
SlateJune ThomasApr 25, 2018
Lelio, whose A Fantastic Woman won the Oscar this year for Best Foreign Language Film, has a knack for observing small moments as well as huge dilemmas. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMay 10, 2018
The doggedly serious Disobedience might have been a more engaging movie if it had allowed itself to be governed by its own melodramatic passions. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMay 2, 2018
Ronit’s ebullient spirit spreads vivacity, discontent, and resentment. She offers the possibility of choice — between secular independence or religious tradition. But Lelio opts for an insipid neutrality that does a disservice to both. Read full review
60
CineVueDec 3, 2018
Disobedience’s third-act narrative inertia does little to dampen its tonal sobriety and quietly powerful compositions. While nuance may be lacking, it makes up in tone and directorial precision. Read full review
60
Time OutTomris LafflyApr 30, 2018
The visually icy Disobedience lacks the absorbing emotional pull of the filmmaker’s best but packs a rare kind of generosity in its attentiveness to complex customs, navigated without judgment. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisApr 25, 2018
The director Sebastián Lelio should have been a good fit for this story if only because of the sensitivity he’s brought to female-driven movies like “Gloria.” Although Disobedience seems to offer him similar material — female desire up against the patriarchy — it defeats him. Read full review
50
TheWrapInkoo KangApr 25, 2018
With Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams starring as its furtive, inflamed lovers, Disobedience has pedigree to spare. But the result feels wonky and lopsided, as if several crucial scenes were left behind on the cutting-room floor. Read full review
45
The AtlanticDavid SimsApr 27, 2018
Disobedience finishes on an annoyingly vague note, almost as if Lelio and Lenkiewicz had stumbled on a more interesting, expansive narrative in the final act but didn’t quite know how to pursue it. The result is a film that, from beginning to end, feels as hopelessly lost as its characters do. Read full review
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