waterloo
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Few films or series are interested in this micro orthodox Jewish society that lives in New York. For the spectator, the very beautiful Unorthodox series is a dizzying and skin-deep leap in the alienation of a daily life.
The series of Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, which adapts the memories of Deborah Feldman, has this particularity of playing on two very distinct tables. By telling us of the flight to Berlin of the young and pregnant Esther, where her biological mother is staying, in order to leave the throes of a liberticide marriage, Unorthodox explains to us both her life spent in New York and her life present in a Berlin which seems to him far from his customary habits. The great strength of the series is its documentary aspect, even its respectful ethnocentrism and observer of the rituals of the community of Orthodox Jews from Williamsburg, in New York.
If the Unorthodox episodes, only 4, make the bridge between the two temporalities and overlap, to make us understand better the inclinations of Esther in her quest for free will, and to better make us understand the culture shock that the young woman undergoes By going to Berlin, it is above all its accuracy, its softness and its representative bias that make the series a fascinating work to discover. Anna Winger immerses us in the daily life of a society with very specific rites, beliefs and ways of functioning: a micro system in a vacuum, by custom, dogma but also by fear of the unknown or alienation, which behind this pageantry, conceals a desire to protect themselves from others, knowing that the genocide perpetrated during the Second World War is still in their thoughts.
This interweaving of the past and the present which occupies the fears of this community, from drama to withdrawal into self to almost economic self-sufficiency is never used by the series to legitimize the condition of women but is only used to densify the description of the ins and outs of this ethnic introspection. Except that behind this assiduous observation, this naturalistic and sometimes majestic illustration of habits and customs (marriage), this tribute to these men and women, in particular everything related to marriage and the family, which teaches us a lot about the role of the newlyweds, their rights and their duties, Unorthodox does not forget to have a critical, moving, sometimes raw and difficult look at the role of women in this established order and its objectification.
Unorthodox, with its rather gentle staging, embellished with great moments of grace (the bathing scene), is not a series that condemns this society to the pillory and has the intelligence not to oppose this idea of good or badly, between Berlin and the Orthodox community. You just have to see Esther's love for her granny, the first benevolent and shy exchanges between Esther and her future husband Yanky, or even observe the brothel of prostitutes in Berlin to realize that Anna Winger opens - in any case tries - a wide field of application in its analysis. Analysis which turns out to be as much a fortuitous attack on the condition of women in a patriarchal and sclerotic system as a fable on emancipation, the right to fate and the possibility for each of the women to be able to follow her own path.
It is through the gaze of Esther, and especially of his fabulous actress Shira Haas, that the spectator will be able to observe the weight that women have to bear and the "reproductive" responsibilities that they are busy in this orthodox society. Through her eyes and her physique, as valiant as frail, Esther will then discover a Berlin, open-air, free, motley, welcoming but just as difficult, with the notion of competition, of isolation (her mother without diplomas ) and hard responsibilities. Admittedly, the Berlin part seems a bit naive - group of musician friends and all "wokes", good living together, freedom of worship, Berlin nights and their ardor, obtaining a scholarship - but that does not harm in no way to the strength, the veracity and the intensity of the characters and their complexities (Yanky),
The series of Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, which adapts the memories of Deborah Feldman, has this particularity of playing on two very distinct tables. By telling us of the flight to Berlin of the young and pregnant Esther, where her biological mother is staying, in order to leave the throes of a liberticide marriage, Unorthodox explains to us both her life spent in New York and her life present in a Berlin which seems to him far from his customary habits. The great strength of the series is its documentary aspect, even its respectful ethnocentrism and observer of the rituals of the community of Orthodox Jews from Williamsburg, in New York.
If the Unorthodox episodes, only 4, make the bridge between the two temporalities and overlap, to make us understand better the inclinations of Esther in her quest for free will, and to better make us understand the culture shock that the young woman undergoes By going to Berlin, it is above all its accuracy, its softness and its representative bias that make the series a fascinating work to discover. Anna Winger immerses us in the daily life of a society with very specific rites, beliefs and ways of functioning: a micro system in a vacuum, by custom, dogma but also by fear of the unknown or alienation, which behind this pageantry, conceals a desire to protect themselves from others, knowing that the genocide perpetrated during the Second World War is still in their thoughts.
This interweaving of the past and the present which occupies the fears of this community, from drama to withdrawal into self to almost economic self-sufficiency is never used by the series to legitimize the condition of women but is only used to densify the description of the ins and outs of this ethnic introspection. Except that behind this assiduous observation, this naturalistic and sometimes majestic illustration of habits and customs (marriage), this tribute to these men and women, in particular everything related to marriage and the family, which teaches us a lot about the role of the newlyweds, their rights and their duties, Unorthodox does not forget to have a critical, moving, sometimes raw and difficult look at the role of women in this established order and its objectification.
Unorthodox, with its rather gentle staging, embellished with great moments of grace (the bathing scene), is not a series that condemns this society to the pillory and has the intelligence not to oppose this idea of good or badly, between Berlin and the Orthodox community. You just have to see Esther's love for her granny, the first benevolent and shy exchanges between Esther and her future husband Yanky, or even observe the brothel of prostitutes in Berlin to realize that Anna Winger opens - in any case tries - a wide field of application in its analysis. Analysis which turns out to be as much a fortuitous attack on the condition of women in a patriarchal and sclerotic system as a fable on emancipation, the right to fate and the possibility for each of the women to be able to follow her own path.
It is through the gaze of Esther, and especially of his fabulous actress Shira Haas, that the spectator will be able to observe the weight that women have to bear and the "reproductive" responsibilities that they are busy in this orthodox society. Through her eyes and her physique, as valiant as frail, Esther will then discover a Berlin, open-air, free, motley, welcoming but just as difficult, with the notion of competition, of isolation (her mother without diplomas ) and hard responsibilities. Admittedly, the Berlin part seems a bit naive - group of musician friends and all "wokes", good living together, freedom of worship, Berlin nights and their ardor, obtaining a scholarship - but that does not harm in no way to the strength, the veracity and the intensity of the characters and their complexities (Yanky),
