Of the many pleasures of being in New York, we love to gorge on new films and explore the diversity of art on exhibit. We saw two excellent films this week and joined the throngs at the Met for “Heavenly Bodies.”
GREAT CINEMA
A superb film. Although diminutive in stature and soft of voice, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a force to be reckoned with, and somewhat strangely, has become an icon for our time, “Notorious RBG”. The film is both a salute to her accomplishments related to equality for women, and a history lesson for anyone who didn’t live through the 70’s when she consistently won the cases she argued before the Supreme Court.
Her spouse Marty, a most supportive man and “liberated” for his time; several of of her former law clerks; her son James and daughter Jane; and others such as Nina Totenberg of NPR; offer personal commentary on Ginsburg’s life and her character. She is not a fan of small talk and is in love with the law. After her first bout with cancer, she hired a personal trainer and regularly works out. Driven and determined, she is a magnificent woman who has achieved much. May she continue to serve on the court for many more years—at least six!
A quiet film of religion and re-ignited passion. Lesbian Ronit left her conservative Jewish sect in London for a career in New York as a photographer. She returns to London for the funeral of her rabbi father, but no one really expects her to dare to come back. She is reunited with childhood friends, Dovid, a rabbi, and Esti, a teacher now married to Dovid, and invited to stay at their home. Esti seems strangely distant and unwelcoming initially, but eventually the buried passion and love between the two women erupts.
Theirs is a strict sect with proscribed roles for men, but particularly for women, and Dovid and Esti each struggle with the disruption Ronit brings into their lives. Shot in dimly lit interiors with lots of grays and muted colors, this is a sensitive and compassionate portrayal of a conflict between religious teachings and individual choice.
AT THE MUSEUM 
“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” at the Metropolitan Museum
I am not a Catholic as are, or were, most of the designers creating costumes for this gala exhibit. And I probably don’t have quite the level of appreciation of the robes and mitres on loan from The Vatican as a Catholic would, but I was more impressed, awed, and delighted with this exhibit than I expected to be. We went to the Met on 5thAvenue, but have not gone up to The Cloisters for the remainder of the exhibit.
Overall, the exhibit combines high fashion, sumptuous fabrics and beading, with the mitres, copes and other garment items worn by popes and cardinals. The contemporary gowns, along with a range of elegant black dresses showing the influence of the nun’s habit on fashion, are displayed in the Byzantine hall. 
Downstairs in the Anna Wintour Costume Institute, are the vestments on loan from The Vatican. The Catholic clergy were not restrained in their garb—at least not until the present pope—and there is elaborate embroidery, gold thread, and many instances of amethysts and other jewels affixed to mitres and robes. Photography was not permitted downstairs.
This is a stunning exhibit and deserves attention. It runs into early October.
Note: Cover image of Justice Ginsburg is an AP photo from motherjones.com; all other photos by JWFarrington.
