Sonia Horowitz (Renee Zellweger) is a Jewish woman married to Mendel (Glenn Fitzgerald). He's a young conservative Hasidic Jew religious teacher. She's a new mother and they don't have a good sex life. She's very knowledgeable in jewelry learned from her father. She abandons her skills to marry a scholar as her parents wish. Her brother-in-law Sender (Christopher Eccleston) offers her a job to run his basement jewelry 'store', and immediately have sex. She grows to hate Sender and discovers new jewelery artist Ramon Garcia (Allen Payne).
I am just not sold on Renee Zellweger as this character. I can't see her as a religious person. She has trouble acting reserved. I don't buy her character at the beginning. She just seems out of place. I can understand the point is that she's out of place, but it's a role too far away from her natural persona. The first part of the movie is slow and tedious exactly like her life. It gets more interesting later on.
In the end, I didn't really like it. And the character of her brother feels more like a gimmick and a distraction from her own character. Instead of offering depth, her brother only offers confusion. Director/writer Boaz Yakin provides an insight into this isolated world. The husband is ridiculously pathetic at one point. I wondered if Boaz is ridiculing the Hasidic faith? Maybe it's a more compelling movie for people who has connections to that world unlike me. The constant whispered discussions really tired me out. The only truly compelling performance comes from Julianna Margulies as Mendel's sister Rachel in that one big scene.
I am just not sold on Renee Zellweger as this character. I can't see her as a religious person. She has trouble acting reserved. I don't buy her character at the beginning. She just seems out of place. I can understand the point is that she's out of place, but it's a role too far away from her natural persona. The first part of the movie is slow and tedious exactly like her life. It gets more interesting later on.
In the end, I didn't really like it. And the character of her brother feels more like a gimmick and a distraction from her own character. Instead of offering depth, her brother only offers confusion. Director/writer Boaz Yakin provides an insight into this isolated world. The husband is ridiculously pathetic at one point. I wondered if Boaz is ridiculing the Hasidic faith? Maybe it's a more compelling movie for people who has connections to that world unlike me. The constant whispered discussions really tired me out. The only truly compelling performance comes from Julianna Margulies as Mendel's sister Rachel in that one big scene.