Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams are Orthodox Jewish lovers in the first trailer for Disobedience

The first trailer has been released for Disobedience, a film about a transgressive lesbian affair in the Orthodox Jewish community that shocked the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Rachel Weisz, who is herself Jewish, plays Ronit Krushka, who returns to her North London community after the death of her father. In Golders Green, she is reunited with Rachel McAdams' Esti, with whom she had an emotionally-charged relationship which led to her exile. 

Now Esti is married to an Orthodox rabbi Dovid (American Hustle's Alessandro Nivola). When Ronit questions their union, Esti replies: "I think he felt that marriage would cure me."

Now the lovers are forced back into proximity, their forbidden affair quickly rekindles within the claustrophobic confines of the marital home and the conventions of their devout community. 

It's the first English-language outing for Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, who told IndieWire that he consulted both his lesbian friends and consultants from the Orthodox Jewish community whilst making the film.

Disobedience caused a stir at the Toronto International Film Festival for its six-minute sex scene. Lelio responded to the reaction in IndieWire, saying “Someone called it Jew is the Warmest Color, but I think ours is a little less problematic.”

“We created a very intimate, protected set,” he said. “They were brave from the beginning. I felt so lucky to be dealing with real artists willing to take a risk. Acting is risk—it’s about trusting a director, and blindly jumping off the cliff.”

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman, who also wrote the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction winner The Power.

Disobedience will be released on August 24