--- title: "Unorthodox" year: 2020 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/unorthodox" fi1m_score: 79 critics_score: 83 critics_reviews: 5 published: "2026-09-20T21:11:45.023768+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T21:12:25.007536+00:00" region: "PH" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Unorthodox (2020) Created by Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski · Drama **Fi1m score: 79** · Critics 83 (early) from 5 reviews *In a sentence:* Home has all the rules and all the drama; freedom, it turns out, is mostly nice students buying coffee > A four-part drama about a young woman who walks out of her Hasidic marriage and starts again somewhere nobody knows her. Shira Haas is remarkable and the scenes at home are precise and painful; the escape is thinner, and the series is less sure of itself once it leaves the flat. ## Synopsis Esther Shapiro (Shira Haas), known as Esty, is a year into an arranged marriage in a Hasidic community. On a Friday afternoon, while the neighbourhood readies itself for the Sabbath, she leaves the flat with a bag of papers and does not come back. She heads for the city where her mother Leah Mandelbaum Schwartz (Alex Reid) lives. Her husband Yakov Shapiro (Amit Rahav) is a soft, obedient young man who has never had to decide anything for himself. Once in the city, Esty drifts into a conservatory and falls in with its students, among them Robert (Aaron Altaras) and Yael Roubeni (Tamar Amit-Joseph). Flashbacks fill in the matchmaking, the wedding and the year that followed. ## Review Esther Shapiro (Shira Haas), known as Esty, is a year married, and on a Friday afternoon, while every other woman on the street is carrying bread home for the Sabbath, she walks out of her Hasidic community with a plastic bag of papers and does not come back. Maria Schrader’s four-part series, created and written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski from a real-life story, follows her into the city she runs to and then keeps turning back home to show, a piece at a time, how she came to leave. It is good, and in its scenes at home it is better than good. Those scenes are the reason to watch. Schrader lets the rituals run at something like their real length: the matchmaking meeting in a front room, the wedding with the men dancing on one side of a partition and the women on the other, the morning after when Esty’s hair is cut and then shaved. We were braced for that scene and it still got to us, because Haas does not play it as an assault. She sits still and looks at the mirror as if trying to be pleased, and Wolfgang Thaler’s camera stays on her long enough for us to watch the effort fail. Silke Fischer fills the apartments with dark wood, lace at the windows and too many people, and Thaler lights them in a yellow lamplight so warm you understand why anyone stays. Haas is small and the series uses it. Men loom over her in hallways, and her mother-in-law Miriam Shapiro (Delia Mayer) discusses her as if she were a kitchen appliance that has stopped working. Amit Rahav’s Yakov Shapiro is the programme’s best decision: not a brute but a frightened boy who wants to do right and has been told exactly what right looks like. Their scenes together, in particular in the bedroom, which the flashbacks return to with a frankness that never leers, hurt because both of them are trying. The new city is where our reservations begin. Esty wanders into a conservatory and within a day a set of music students, Robert (Aaron Altaras) and Yael Roubeni (Tamar Amit-Joseph) among them, have taken her for coffee, to a club and to a lake, and nobody asks her a hard question. Thaler switches to pale, wide, open frames and Justine Seymour swaps the thick tights and long skirts for borrowed jeans, all of which is clear and a little too neat. The city is a lake, a rehearsal room and a kind mother’s kitchen. It looks like a place from a language-school brochure, and the students are as accommodating as its staff. Then there is Moische Lefkovitch (Jeff Wilbusch), Yakov’s worldlier cousin, whose strand we will not describe beyond saying that it pulls a careful drama about a marriage towards something closer to a thriller. Wilbusch is good, coiled and sly, and every scene he has takes time from the story the series is actually good at. The editors, Gesa Jäger and Hansjörg Weißbrich, are deft at cutting between the two worlds and cannot make these two programmes feel like one. Antonio Gambale’s score keeps to low strings and piano and mostly stays out of the way, which is right; the conservatory supplies the rest of the music. Dramas about leaving a closed religious world usually pick a side in the first ten minutes. This one mostly resists. The Sabbath songs are allowed to be beautiful; the grandparents, Babby (Dina Doron) and Zeidy (David Mandelbaum), are allowed to love her. The community is never played as a costume, and the series is at its most honest when it lets us see what Esty is giving up along with what she is escaping. It is a 12 certificate and the sex is more discussed than shown. Watch it over two nights rather than one, with the lights down, and do not be surprised if you find yourself, against the programme’s own intentions, missing the home she left a little. *Fi1m score 79, published 20 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Unorthodox worth watching?** *Unorthodox* is worth watching for anyone who likes a careful drama about a marriage and a closed world, and we scored it 79. The scenes inside the Hasidic community, with Shira Haas at their centre, are precise and painful; the escape to the city is thinner and a little too neat. Four parts, best taken over two nights. **Where can I watch Unorthodox in the Philippines?** *Unorthodox* is streaming on Netflix in the Philippines. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Unorthodox, and is it suitable for children?** *Unorthodox* carries a UK 12 certificate and is not violent or frightening; its distress is emotional rather than physical. There is frank talk about sex within a marriage, more discussed than shown, and a head-shaving scene that is hard to watch. It suits teenagers and adults rather than younger children, who will find little in it for them. ### Reviews we read (5) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the Netflix miniseries compelling as a story of rebellion and personal freedom, with a strong focus on the protagonist's coming-of-age journey. Shira Haas's mesmerising lead performance is singled out for praise as the central strength. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/apr/20/unorthodox-a-thrilling-story-of-rebellion-and-freedom-from-new-york-to-berlin) - **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): Unorthodox is a beautiful, immersive portrait of a woman’s rebirth, with strong direction by Maria Schrader and an extraordinary performance by Shira Haas that captures her character's fear, grief, and wonder. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/unorthodox-netflix-series-review.html) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (85/100, inferred): The series turns a real-life story of religious rebellion into a riveting thriller, thanks in large part to a stunning performance by Shira Haas as Esty. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/unorthodox-review-netflix-shira-haas-1202220615/) - **The i Paper**, Sarah Carson (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as a measured and considerate portrayal of a young woman's escape from her Hasidic community, highlighting Shira Haas's superb performance and the nuanced depiction of faith and feminism without sensationalism. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/netflix-unorthodox-review-shira-haas-hasidic-judaism-brooklyn-415157) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (70/100, inferred): The review finds the character-driven elements captivating due to specificity and Shira Haas's performance, but notes the thriller aspects blur the nuance; praises intimate ritual scenes and humanity in the story. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/unorthodox-review-1286246/) ## Details - **Created by:** Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski - **Creator:** Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski - **Director:** Maria Schrader - **Writer:** Anna Winger, Alexa Karolinski - **Cinematography:** Wolfgang Thaler - **Editor:** Hansjörg Weißbrich, Gesa Jäger - **Music:** Antonio Gambale - **Production design:** Silke Fischer - **Costume design:** Justine Seymour - **Producer:** Alexa Karolinski - **Cast:** Shira Haas as Esther Shapiro; Amit Rahav as Yakov Shapiro; Jeff Wilbusch as Moische Lefkovitch; Alex Reid as Leah Mandelbaum Schwartz; Delia Mayer as Miriam Shapiro; Ronit Asheri as Malka Schwarz; Aaron Altaras as Robert; Dina Doron as Babby - **Release (the Philippines):** 26 March 2020 - **Genres:** Drama ## Where to watch in the Philippines - Netflix: streaming *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Fill the Void* (2012): An arranged marriage in Tel Aviv’s Haredi world, told from inside and without contempt - *Disobedience* (2017): A woman returns to Orthodox north London for a funeral and an old love - *Shtisel* (2013): Jerusalem Haredi family drama with more patience and humour than any escape story - *Felix and Meira* (2014): A Hasidic wife in Montreal drifts towards a secular man, quietly and in winter - *Kadosh* (1999): Amos Gitai’s austere account of two sisters and the men who decide for them --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/unorthodox