The Wonder (2022)

Direction: Sebastián Lelio
Country: Ireland / UK / USA

From the director of Gloria (2013) and A Fantastic Woman (2017), The Wonder won’t make you energized as it engages in a slow cooking process with lack of spices. The film, based on the book by Emma Donoghue and co-written by Lelio and Alice Birch (Lady MacBeth, 2016), is a lugubrious and uninventive mystery film soaked in mysticism and contemplation that, without betraying its lyrical style, never grips tightly. The lukewarm, spiritless atmosphere refuses to leave until the end, following a script in need of more paradox and a less debilitated conclusion. On the other hand, it raises deep questions about religion and its interpenetration with human realities.

Set in a rural 19th-century Irish village, the story depicts the arrival of an English nurse (Florence Pugh), hired by a committee of curious men - believers and skeptics - to observe a devotee 11-year-old girl (Kíla Lord Cassidy) who survives without eating. Is she a saint, a witch, or a haunted person? The hidden secrets are revealed with the help of a journalist (Tom Burke) willing to write an article about the case for the Daily Telegraph. 

Having a faltering narrative rhythm as its worst enemy and the cinematography as its strongest quality, The Wonder is more an exercise in mood with no visible threats. It will leave you with less than what you demand for a story of this nature.

Gloria Bell (2019)

Direction: Sebastian Lelio
Country: USA

Julianne Moore is Gloria Bell, an independent divorcée and mother of two who tries to fill a gap in her life with a caring man who could meet her expectations and tastes. As a dance lover, she refuses social isolation and keeps looking for the perfect match in clubs around L.A. at the sound of funk, pop, disco, and R&B hits from the 70s and 80s.

The apparently bashful Arnold (a convincing John Turturro) becomes a candidate of choice when things work out well between them after the first encounter. Recently divorced, he is trying to change his life, but admits having two adult daughters who completely rely on him financial-wise. However, this man reveals to be more complicated and pathetic than he demonstrated in the first instance. On one hand, he needs all the attention he can get, and on the other, he provides everything his daughters and ex-wife demand from him, even stressing and complaining about it all the time.

After an unexplained disappearance when at Gloria’s son’s birthday party, they break up, but days later she gives way to his charm and insistent phone calls, giving him one last chance to redeem himself. A trip to Vegas reaches a climax that, unfortunately, we had already seen before.

Reimagining his own 2013 film Gloria, whose story was set in Santiago and features Paulina Garcia in the leading role, Chilean director Sebastian Lelio (A Fantastic Woman) copies himself in style, designing a similar story to fit the American soil. In fact, the whole film is unsurprising and drags tediously into obvious conclusions. I mean, who needs an American Gloria Bell when we had the wonderful Chilean Gloria? And I say this with all the respect Ms. Moore’s work deserves.

The American adaptation lacks the real free spirit, magic narrative pulse, and radiance of the original, taking this problematic romance to a minor key and making us pay the price. Regardless of the great performances from Moore and Turturro, I would call Gloria with a Spanish accent.

Disobedience (2018)

Directed by Sebastián Lelio
Country: UK / Ireland / USA

Sebastian Lelio, the son of an Argentinean architect and a Chilean ballet dancer, is one of the most praised representatives of contemporary Chilean cinema alongside Pablo Larrain. His debut feature, “The Sacred Family”, came out in 2005, but it was only in 2013 that the filmmaker got the deserved attention with the unforgettable drama “Gloria”, an international success and his best film to date. The film collected many prizes in festivals such as Berlin, Lima, Havana, and Palm Springs, yet, none of them was so precious as the recent Oscar in the category of best foreign film with “A Fantastic Woman”, which relaunched the acting career of transgender classical singer Daniela Vega.

With love and sexuality as recurrent topics, “Disobedience”, starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, utilizes different colors to illustrate known patterns, only transferred to a dissimilar setting. Lelio teamed up with Rebecca Lenkiewicz (“Ida”) in the adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s novel of the same name. The story is set in suburban London and follows the prohibited love between two Orthodox Jewish women and childhood friends, who reconnect after years of growing apart. 

The non-practicing Ronit (Weisz) is a successful if erratic photographer living in New York for many years. She flies to her hometown, Hendon, London, as she learns about the death of her father, a prominent rabbi whose inflamed exhortations used to include subjects as the clarity of the angels, the desires of the beast, and the freedom of choice given to every human being. The family members are incredulous, in some cases even a bit overwhelmed, with her presence. However, her cousin Dovid (Alessandro Nivola) was nice enough to welcome her into his house. The complication comes from the fact that he married Esti (McAdams), Ronit's former teenage lover, who, living an unhappy life, is still madly attracted to her. She profoundly admires the liberal Ronit, a symbol of feminist prowess, for having had the courage to escape the religious strictness of their cultural roots. The only enjoyable thing in her life seems to be her work.

There is a sense of despair enveloping the two female characters since what they feel for each other is much stronger than any rigid rule imposed by the society. While in the company of Esti at her father’s unoccupied house, disappointingly left to the Synagogue, Ronit tunes a radio station that was playing Love Song by the goth-rock band The Cure. The song seems to bring voluptuous old memories. Tender kisses turn up naturally and the disobedience to the rules recklessly extends beyond the house, putting Esti’s reputation in danger. What to do next, when the secret is revealed?

Despite beautifully conceived until this moment, the powerful drama becomes contrived. Initially built with an enthralling tension and clever insight, it suddenly fails to grasp in its flimsy climax. Dovid’s impulsive change in posture regarding Esti’s quest for freedom felt too flexible and untroubled, tolerating emotions to become forged, more fabricated than genuine. Even if the romantic triangle didn’t work so well, the first-class performances from McAdams and Weisz are good reasons to watch “Disobedience”. The way they come to grips with the conflict between religious austerity and taboo lesbian romance in their community is still complex and interesting.