"A Price Above Rubies" A Film Review by Linda Lopez McAlister on "The Women's Show" WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL May 30, 1998 Last night I saw a wonderful independent film about the crisis in the life of an orthodox Jewish woman, written and directed sensitively and movingly by Boaz Yakin (who previously did double honors on the 1994 film "Fresh"). There are, from time to time, films about U.S. Jewish women--Joan Micklin Silver's "Crossing Delancy" comes instantly to mind--but this is the first one I have seen that is set among the super orthodox community of Crown Heights in Brooklyn. I have to wonder whether I would have understood the film and its main character, Sonia, as well as I did (and I'm sure I still missed a lot) if I hadn't had some previous acquaintance with this community and the demands it makes on its members, especially its women. As it happens, my first teaching job was at Brooklyn College where many of the evening students were young men from Crown Heights; they attended yeshiva during the day and came to Brooklyn College at night to take their college degrees. None of them ever set foot in the secular philosophy courses that I taught, but I did get to know some of these men through school activities, student government, etc. and I became friends as well with others who had come from, but left, that community and who sometimes talked about it. Some orthodox women also attended Brooklyn; they were easily recognizable by their neat, conservatively stylish clothes (always skirts or dresses), and their ubiquitous wigs (since they were forbidden to have their heads uncovered). During this period I also lived for a time in a duplex in Staten Island just a couple of blocks from an Orthodox temple, so many of my neighbors were Orthodox Jews, including the two families in the house next door. This gave me some opportunity to observe their home life. The men, who were brothers and in business together, behaved in a neighborly fashion and we would sometimes have conversations. In the two or three years I lived there, however, I don't believe I ever had a conversation with either of their wives and I got the impression that they did not want, or were not allowed, to socialize with anyone who was not a part of their community. They stayed at home caring for house and children all the time and, though they dressed more casually at home, their heads were always covered with scarves or kerchiefs, and they never seemed to leave home except to walk to temple. Even this very superficial knowledge of Orthodox Jews in New York was a help, I think, in understanding some of the key points in "A Price Above Rubies." So is reading Faye Kellerman's mystery stories that feature an Orthodox Jewish couple. Sonia (played by Rene Zellweger) is a young woman from Muncie, Indiana. She's a Jew and is doing what her family wants her to do when she marries Mendel Horowitz (Glen Fitzgerald), an extremely pious and scholarly young man from Crown Heights, namely becoming a wife and mother rather than pursuing an education or a career in the family jewelry and gemstone business. The seeds of independence and rebellion from her faith were planted in Sonia's childhood, but they have laid dormant while she tries her best to do what's expected of her--what she expects of herself. The experience of marrying, Having a son, and moving to Crown Heights, however, gradually bring them back to life. In Brooklyn, the sense that every aspect of her life is controlled by the dictates of her husband's ultra Orthodox faith -- as pronounced by him, his sister, the Rebbe, and the community at large-- becomes overwhelming to her. She begins to suffer from anxiety attacks and disturbing physical symptoms. Nor is the marriage going well. In a telling sequence after Sonia has taken the elaborate monthly ritual bath required to purify her after her menstrual period so she and her husband can have marital relations again, Mendel freaks out when Sonia starts to get turned on and begins to take pleasure from the sex act. He thinks that sex is a sacred act that is dedicated to God and it shouldn't get so wild. Sessions with the Rebbe and with a rabbi/psychologist do not help because they start from the same premises as Mendel does. What does help, in some ways, is the taste of freedom she gets when her brother-in-law, Sender (Christopher Eccleston) discovers how knowledgeable she is about fine jewelry and gives her a job buying fine pieces in the Manhattan jewelry district and then selling them privately out of a Crown Heights basement. She thrives on it, gets to see the outside world, gets to use her talents and skill, and meets new people, including a young Puerto Rican man who is a talented artist and jewelry maker. The price, alas, is very high--becoming Sender's mistress. While he could care less about the fact that he's acting sinfully in the eyes of his faith, he's no more a caring and giving lover to Sonia than his brother is. Eventually the community starts gossiping about them and accuses Sonia of neglecting her child and husband (who is guilty of some major neglect himself, since he's always off at the temple or the yeshiva). "A Price Above Rubies" chronicles her struggle to find her niche in the world, and being a good Crown Heights wife is clearly not it. She is helped along the way by what I assume are meant to be manifestations of her unconscious--visions of her beloved and rebellious younger brother Yossi who died when he was 10 and of a wise old beggar woman who appears to her at key points. I found this part of the film extremely moving and cried along with her much of the way. The leading actors, many of whom are not Jewish, really are believable in their roles while the supporting cast is particularly strong with Julianna Margulies playing Mendel's sister, Kim Hunter as the Rebbitzn who is sympathetic and ultimately grateful to Sonia, and there's even a cameo by Phyllis Newman as an over-the-top drapery saleswoman. I loved the way the final outcome of the story is depicted not in words but in the beautiful cinematography behind the closing credits of the film. So be sure to stick around for this classy touch--22 karat at least. Copyright 1998 by Linda Lopez McAlister. All rights reserved. Please do not reprint or reproduce this review without the permission of the author: mcalister@chuma1.cas.usf.edu.