Unorthodox (miniseries)

Last updated

Unorthodox
Unorthodox Title Card.png
Genre Drama
Created by
Inspired by Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots
by Deborah Feldman
Written by
  • Anna Winger
  • Alexa Karolinski
Directed by Maria Schrader
Starring
Country of origin
  • Germany
Original languages
  • English
  • Yiddish
  • German
No. of episodes4
Production
Executive producers
  • Anna Winger
  • Henning Kamm
ProducerAlexa Karolinski
Running time52–54 minutes
Production companies
  • Studio Airlift
  • Real Film Berlin Gmbh
Original release
Network Netflix
ReleaseMarch 26, 2020 (2020-03-26)

Unorthodox is a German drama television miniseries that debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020. The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots . The four-part miniseries was created and written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, and directed by Maria Schrader.

Contents

The series received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series (Shira Haas), and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series (Anna Winger), winning for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series (Maria Schrader).

Premise

Esty Shapiro, a 19-year-old Jewish woman, is living unhappily in an arranged marriage among the Satmar sect of the ultra-Orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City. [1] She runs away to Berlin, where her estranged mother lives, and tries to navigate a secular life, discovering life outside her community and rejecting all of the beliefs she grew up with. [2] Her husband, who learns that she is pregnant, travels to Berlin with his cousin, by order of their rabbi, to try to find her. [3]

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

  • Alex Reid as Leah Mandelbaum
  • Ronit Asheri as Malka Schwartz
  • Gera Sandler as Mordechai Schwartz
  • Dina Doron as Esty's grandmother ("Bubbe")
  • Aaron Altaras as Robert
  • Tamar Amit-Joseph as Yael Roubeni
  • Aziz Dyab as Salim
  • David Mandelbaum as Zeidy
  • Delia Mayer as Miriam Shapiro
  • Felix Mayr as Mike
  • Lili Rosen as Rabbi Yossele
  • Safinaz Sattar as Dasia
  • Langston Uibel as Axmed
  • Isabel Schosnig as Nina Decker
  • Laura Beckner as Vivian Dropkin
  • Harvey Friedman as Symcha Shapiro
  • Lenn Kudrjawizki as Igor
  • Yousef "Joe" Sweid as Karim Nuri

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Part 1" Maria Schrader Anna Winger March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26)

On a Sabbath day, 19-year-old Esty Shapiro, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish married woman, flees her home in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, section of New York City with only a handful of possessions. She takes a plane to Berlin, where her estranged mother lives, but runs away before they can meet after seeing her mother kiss her female partner. At a coffee shop, Esty meets Robert, a young man ordering many coffees. She helps him take coffee to his friends who are waiting at a nearby music conservatory where they all study. Esty sneaks into their rehearsal, and is deeply moved by their music. After the rehearsal, she hears the group announce they are going to the beach, and asks to come along. At the beach, Esty removes her sheitel as she bathes in the water, revealing her hair.

Back in Williamsburg, Esty's husband, Yanky Shapiro, discovers that she is missing, and runs to his family for help.

In a flashback, Esty prepares to marry Yanky, and is visited by her mother who gives her German citizenship papers, should she ever need them. Esty goes forward with her wedding.
2"Part 2"Maria Schrader Alexa Karolinski
Anna Winger
March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26)

Esty is discovered sleeping overnight in the conservatory. She is encouraged to apply for a hardship scholarship given to talented refugees and musicians in other difficult circumstances. Esty decides to go forward as she plays the piano. When her conservatory friends invite her to dinner, they ask her to perform a piece. Esty is heartbroken when one of them, Yael, tells her that, while she is musical, her playing is merely adequate, and nowhere near good enough for the conservatory. She calls home for the first time, but is further distressed when her grandmother hangs up on her without speaking.

Yanky and his cousin Moishe fly to Berlin to try to retrieve Esty, and Yanky is stunned by Moishe's worldly ways.
3"Part 3"Maria SchraderAnna Winger
Alexa Karolinski
March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26)

Esty decides to withdraw her application for the conservatory, but the woman processing her application convinces her to continue with it. She goes to a club to see Yael performing, and is spotted by Moishe, who has succeeded in tracking her down. Esty leaves with Robert before Moishe can confront her. When they return to Robert's apartment, Robert and Esty share an intimate encounter.

In a flashback, Esty's marriage begins to crumble almost as soon as it starts, as she cannot have sex with Yanky because she finds it painful. She is eventually told that she is suffering from vaginismus. After a particularly angry fight with Yanky, Esty urges him to complete sex with her, despite her horrific pain.
4"Part 4"Maria SchraderAlexa Karolinski
Anna Winger
March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26)
Moishe finally tracks down Esty, and threatens her, telling her she will have nothing if she doesn't return to her husband. In distress, Esty finally contacts her mother, who promises to support her and her child. Esty decides to go through with her audition, switching her discipline from the piano to voice. After her audition, she is approached by Yanky, who begs her to come home with him. Promising to change, Yanky cuts off his payot, but Esty tells him it is too late for them and leaves to start her new life.

Production

The series was inspired by, and is loosely based on, the memoir Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman, who left the Satmar movement, a Hasidic community in New York City. [4] The show has language switching from English to Yiddish to German. [2] The show was written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, directed by Maria Schrader, produced by Karolinski, and filmed in Berlin. [5] The music academy in Unorthodox is based on the Barenboim-Said Akademie. [6] [7] Anna Winger told The Guardian : "There's a real music academy called the Barenboim-Said Akademie where Jews and Muslims play classical music together, like a whole utopia. We were inspired by this idea, as the sort of institution that could only begin in Berlin." [8]

Unorthodox is the first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish. [9] [10]

Feldman approached writers Winger and Karolinski to turn her autobiography into a television series. They took on the project in part because the story meshed with several topics of mutual interest, especially the challenges of being Jewish in Germany. Winger said that the story "has a kind of doubling back on history", portraying a Jewish character who escapes the "confines of her own life" by returning "to the source of her community's trauma". Because Feldman is a public figure, the writers veered from her life in the fictional Berlin sequences, but based the flashbacks on the book. [11]

An early hire was actor and Yiddish specialist Eli Rosen, who translated the scripts, coached the actors, helped with cultural details, and played the rabbi. The production team took two research trips to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, touring buildings and meeting with the community of Satmar Jews, where part of the story is set. Cast in Germany, Jeff Wilbusch was unique among the four lead actors in being a native Yiddish speaker from the Satmar community (via the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem). [11]

Filming began in New York, then relocated to Berlin, where the production designer built interior sets at CCC Filmstudios [12] that synced with the Brooklyn exteriors. Berlin locations include Potsdamer Platz, which served as the set for the music academy and surroundings, and the Wannsee lake ( Großer Wannsee ), where, as referenced in the story, the "Final Solution" was planned at a shoreline villa. [13] [11]

For the production and costume designers, the project presented the challenge of creating a period film set in the present day, with the main character gradually transitioning between them. The two-day filming of the wedding was a complex undertaking, involving about a hundred extras that had to accurately depict a nuanced cultural celebration. "The joke on the show was that the men required way more hair and make-up than the women", Winger said. Costume designer Justine Seymour obtained some of the clothes in Williamsburg, but not the costly fur hats, shtreimels , which were made by a Hamburg-based theater company, using fake fur, instead of minks. [11]

Reception

Critical response

Unorthodox received widespread critical acclaim. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 96%, based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Unorthodox adapts its source material with extreme care, crafting a series that is at once intimate and urgent, all centered around Shira Haas' captivating performance." [14] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [15]

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
2020 German Television Awards Best Miniseries Anna Winger, Maria Schrader, and Rachel EggebeenNominated [16]
Best Actress Shira Haas Nominated
Best Production and Costume DesignSilke Fischer (Production) and Justine Seymour (Costume)Won
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited Series Anna Winger, Henning Kamm, and Alexa Karolinski Nominated [17]
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Shira HaasNominated
Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special Anna Winger (for "Part 1")Nominated
Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special Maria SchraderWon
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Casting for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special Esther Kling, Vicki Thomson, Maria Rölcke, and Cornelia MarethNominated
Outstanding Contemporary Costumes Justine Seymour, Simone Kreska, and Barbara Schramm (for "Part 2")Nominated
Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score) Antonio Gambale (for "Part 1")Nominated
Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Antonio GambaleNominated
APRA Screen Music Awards Best Music for a Mini-Series or TelemovieWon [18]
Best Television ThemeWon
2021 British Academy Television Awards Best International Programme UnorthodoxNominated [19]
Costume Designers Guild Awards Excellence in Contemporary Television Justine Seymour (for "Part 2")Nominated [20]
Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Limited Series UnorthodoxNominated [21]
Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie Shira HaasNominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Limited Series or Television Film UnorthodoxNominated [22]
Best Actress – Limited Series or Television Film Shira HaasNominated
Golden Reel Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Single PresentationDaniel Iribarren, Toby Bilz, Sebastian Morsch, Paul Rischer, Adrian Baumeister, Illia Popel, Dmytro Kniazhechenko, and Victor Shcheglov (for "Part 1")Nominated [23]
Gotham Independent Film Awards Breakthrough Series – Long Form Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski, and Henning KammNominated [24]
Independent Spirit Awards Best New Scripted SeriesAnna Winger, Alexa Karolinski, and Henning KammNominated [25]
Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series Amit Rahav Won
Best Female Performance in a New Scripted SeriesShira HaasWon
Producers Guild of America Awards David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited Series Television Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinksi, and Henning KammNominated [26]
Satellite Awards Best Miniseries & Limited Series UnorthodoxNominated [27]
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Film Shira HaasNominated
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film Jeff Wilbusch Won

Making Unorthodox documentary

Netflix released a 20-minute documentary, Making Unorthodox, that chronicles the creative process and filming of the miniseries, and discussed the differences between the book and the TV show. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satmar</span> Romanian Hasidic dynasty

Satmar is a Hasidic group founded in 1905 by Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), in the city of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary. The group is an offshoot of the Sighet Hasidic dynasty. Following World War II, it was re-established in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Peters</span> American actor (born 1987)

Evan Thomas Peters is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 2004 drama film Clipping Adam and starred in the ABC science fiction series Invasion from 2005 to 2006.

Unorthodox may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Schrader</span> German actress, screenwriter and director

Maria Schrader is a German actress, screenwriter, and director. She directed the award-winning 2007 film Love Life and the 2020 Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series. She also starred in the German international hit TV series Deutschland 83 (2015), known for being the first German-language series broadcast on US television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Winger</span> American novelist (born 1970)

Anna Winger is an American writer, producer, screenwriter, and photographer who lives in Berlin, Germany. She is creator of the television dramas Deutschland 83,Deutschland 86,Deutschland 89, and Unorthodox. She is a co-writer of the limited series Transatlantic, produced for Netflix and aired in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Garner</span> American actress (born 1994)

Julia Garner is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Ruth Langmore in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark (2017–2022), for which she received critical acclaim and won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexa Karolinski</span> German filmmaker (born 1984)

Alexa Karolinski is a German writer, director and producer whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. She is the creator of the television drama Unorthodox (2020).

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America is 1997 American documentary film produced for PBS about Hasidic Judaism in America produced and directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky, written by Daum and Robert Seidman, and narrated by Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Feldman</span> American-German writer, wrote the 2012 autobiography Unorthodox

Deborah Feldman is an American-born German writer living in Berlin. Her 2012 autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, tells the story of her escape from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, and was the basis of the 2020 Netflix miniseries Unorthodox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shira Haas</span> Israeli actress (born 1995)

Shira Haas is an Israeli actress. She initially gained national prominence for her roles in local film and television, winning two Israeli Ophir Awards out of five nominations since 2014. In 2020, she gained international acclaim for her role in the Netflix miniseries Unorthodox. For this performance, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In the same year, Haas won the Tribeca Film Festival Award for Best International Actress for her performance in the Israeli drama film Asia (2020). She has since starred in the Netflix science fiction series Bodies (2023).

<i>One of Us</i> (2017 film) 2017 American documentary film

One of Us is a 2017 documentary feature film that chronicles the lives of three ex-Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn. The film was directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who also created the documentary Jesus Camp. One of Us opened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017, and was distributed the following month of October via Netflix, which also financed the film.

<i>Dead to Me</i> (TV series) American dark comedy television series

Dead to Me is an American black comedy-drama television series that stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as two grieving women who bond during therapy. It was created by Liz Feldman and executive produced by Feldman, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Jessica Elbaum. The series premiered on May 3, 2019, on Netflix and received positive reviews. In June 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a second season which was released on May 8, 2020. At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, Applegate received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

<i>The Queens Gambit</i> (miniseries) 2020 American television miniseries

The Queen's Gambit is a 2020 American coming-of-age period drama television miniseries based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis. The title refers to the "Queen's Gambit", a chess opening. The series was written and directed by Scott Frank, who created it with Allan Scott, who owns the rights to the book. Beginning in the mid-1950s and proceeding into the 1960s, the story follows the life of Beth Harmon, a fictional American chess prodigy on her rise to the top of the chess world while struggling with drug and alcohol dependency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Wilbusch</span> German-Israeli actor

Jeff Wilbusch is an Israeli-German actor.

<i>Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots</i> Book by Deborah Feldman

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots is a 2012 memoir by Deborah Feldman. In the book, she documents her life in an ultra-religious Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. The Netflix miniseries Unorthodox is loosely based on the book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amit Rahav</span> Israeli actor

Amit Rahav is an Israeli actor.

<i>Scenes from a Marriage</i> (American miniseries) American drama television miniseries

Scenes from a Marriage is an American drama television miniseries developed, written and directed by Hagai Levi produced for HBO, and starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. It is an English-language remake of the 1973 Swedish miniseries of the same name by Ingmar Bergman. It was presented at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and it premiered on September 12, 2021, on HBO. For his performance, Isaac was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, a SAG Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, with Chastain also earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Film.

My Unorthodox Life is an American reality television series by Netflix that premiered on July 14, 2021. The series centers on Julia Haart, the former CEO of a modeling agency and fashion company and a former ultra-Orthodox Jew, as Haart and her family acculturate to their new non-religious lifestyle in Manhattan. The second season premiered on December 2, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series</span>

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series was one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a new scripted series. It was first presented in 2020 with Shira Haas being the first recipient of the award for her role as Esther "Esty" Shapiro in miniseries Unorthodox and the last recipient of the award is Thuso Mbedu for her role as Cora Randall in The Underground Railroad.

<i>Transatlantic</i> (TV series) 2023 TV series created by Anna Winger and Daniel Hendler

Transatlantic is a historical drama miniseries created by Anna Winger and Daniel Hendler, based on the 2019 novel The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer. The novel explores the historic Emergency Rescue Committee that operated in Marseille, Spain, and Portugal in 1940 after the fall of France. The series includes or refers to well-known artists or scholars of the time who were saved by the Committee or interacted with it. The series closed the 2023 Series Mania festival in March, ahead of its Netflix premiere on 7 April 2023.

References

  1. Poniewozik, James (March 25, 2020). "Review: 'Unorthodox,' a Stunning Escape From Brooklyn". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Wilkinson, Alissa (March 26, 2020). "Netflix's Unorthodox movingly captures the pain and power of leaving a strict religious community". Vox . Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  3. Keller, Joel (March 26, 2020). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Unorthodox' On Netflix, Where A Hasidic Woman From Brooklyn Finds A New Life In Berlin". Decider . Archived from the original on March 29, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Nicolaou, Elena (March 26, 2020). "Netflix's Unorthodox Is Inspired by the True Story of Deborah Feldman". Oprah Magazine. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  5. Kohn, Eric (March 26, 2020). "'Unorthodox' Review: Netflix's Yiddish Miniseries Turns Hasidic Rebellion Into a Riveting Thriller". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  6. Abeltshauser, Thomas (2020). "Weg vom Ufer". Der Freitag. No. 13. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  7. Thomas Abeltshauser (March 22, 2020). "Maria Schrader: "Ich will den Blick auf die Dinge verändern"". Berliner Morgenpost . Archived from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  8. Bramesco. Charles (March 26, 2020). "Unorthodox: behind the Deutschland 83 co-creator's new Netflix series". The Guardian . Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  9. "Netflix to release show about woman leaving Chassidic lifestyle, mainly in Yiddish". Jewish News Syndicate . March 11, 2020. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  10. Saval, Malina (March 26, 2020). "'Unorthodox' Star Shira Haas Brings Yiddish, Hasidic Judaism, and Contemporary German Culture to Netflix". Variety. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Marlene Melchior, writer & director (March 26, 2020). Making Unorthodox (Video). Netflix. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  12. Tripathi, Prizmi (March 25, 2020). "Where Was Unorthodox Filmed? Netflix Filming Locations". The Cinemaholic. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  13. Fienberg, Daniel (March 25, 2020). "'Unorthodox': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on July 4, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  14. "Unorthodox: Miniseries (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  15. "Unorthodox". Metacritic . CBS. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  16. "Preisträger und Nominierte 2020" [Winners and Nominees 2020]. Deutscher Fernsehpreis (in German). Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  17. "2020 Primetime Emmy® Awards – Nomination Press Release" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  18. "Screen Music Awards: Full List of Winners & Nominees". APRA AMCOS Australia. 2020. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  19. "BAFTA TV 2021: Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". BAFTA. April 28, 2021. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  20. Pedersen, Erik (March 4, 2021). "Costume Designers Guild Awards Nominations". Deadline. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  21. Schneider, Michael (January 18, 2021). "'Ozark', 'The Crown', and Netflix Lead 26th Annual Critics' Choice Awards TV Nominations". Variety. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  22. Oganesyan, Natalie; Moreau, Jordan (February 3, 2021). "Golden Globes 2021: The Complete Nominations List". Variety. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  23. Pond, Steve (March 1, 2021). "'News of the World', 'Sound of Metal' Lead Motion Picture Sound Editors Nominations". The Wrap.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  24. "Gotham Awards 2020". Gotham Awards. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  25. Lewis, Hilary (January 26, 2021). "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always', 'Minari', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'Nomadland' Top Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  26. Hill, Libby (March 8, 2021). "'Bridgerton' and 'Ted Lasso' Among PGA Awards TV Nominees". Indiewire. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  27. Van Blaricom, Mirjana (February 1, 2021). "25th Satellite Awards Nominees for Motion Pictures and Television Announced". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on April 25, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.