Name: Retro Film Review: A Price Above Rubies (1998)
Item: A Price Above Rubies
Rating: 60
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

Four years after he had successfully depicted the sad reality of black ghettos in Fresh, Boaz Yakin tried to deal with another ethnic minority, this time less seen in modern Hollywood film. His 1998 film A Price Above Rubies depicted the world of Hassidic Jews and created a lot of controversies.

Protagonist of the film is Sonia (played by Renee Zellweger), young woman belonging to Hassidic Jews, people whose entire lives are defined by the set of very strict rules and who contact outside world only through jewellery trade. Sonia has been married to Mendel Horowitz (played by Glenn Fitzgerald), young man devoted to religious worship at the expense of his marital life. Even the birth of a child can't put some life into that loveless arranged marriage. Sensing Sonia's increased frustration, Mendel's brother Sender (played by Christopher Eccleston) offers her a job in illegal jewellery shop. Sonia is delighted until she discovers that Sender wants to have sex with her in exchange for that favour. She reluctantly agrees, because the job offers her opportunity to get out of her community and meet different cultures, lifestyles and people. One of those people is Ramon Garcia (played by Allen Payne), young Puerto Rican jewellery designer with whom she falls in love.

Basic plot about strong free-spirited woman breaking the shackles of tradition is hardly original. A Price Above Rubies overcomes that with the setting seldom used in Hollywood films. Unfortunately, Yakin didn't use the opportunity to properly explore the world of Hassidic Jews and some of the events and situations seem too odd or too exotic to be believable (Sender's attempt to theologically justify his actions is one of the examples). On the other hand, Yakin successfully spices the plot with the surreal elements like the ghost of Sonia's long lost brother or mysterious street woman played by Kathleen Chalfant. In the end, A Price Above Rubies rests on the shoulders of its actress. Renée Zellwegger, despite not so successful attempts to handle New York accent, is very convincing in her role. Eccleston, on the other hand, handles New York accent even worse and often sounds like a bad Tim Roth impersonator. Even with those flaws and with its potentials far from being fulfilled, A Price Above Rubies is a rather satisfying piece of cinema.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on March 25th 2004)