Marriage Story

If you want a feel-good flick, I strongly advise you to reconsider watching "Marriage Story". I am NOT saying it's a bad film, in fact, it's amazingly good. But it's also amazingly realistic....and painful to watch due to the subject matter.

The story is an ultra-realistic story about a marriage that is dissolving...and it's painful because the viewer really grows to like Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson). Like real life, neither character is totally bad and you understand both of their positions during the divorce....but it also is very ugly and awful to see what happens when lawyers get involved. Instead of the amicable divorce they both originally agreed to, it soon becomes ugly....and the pair and their devilish lawyers begin going at each other like pitbulls on a side of beef! Again...this is NOT a criticism...it's realistic and heart-wrenching to watch. I found myself crying during some of the ugliest scenes....and I am sure I wasn't alone in the theater!

Overall, you see Johansson and Driver put on some amazing performances....so amazing that I'd be shocked if they aren't at least Oscar-nominated for this film. Well done in every way...and one of the better movies of 2019.

Absolutely heartbreaking. I loved every minute of it.

Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson give the best performances of their careers. They are so damn good here.

Great writing and direction. A beautiful and depressing film.

This movie is unequivocally carried by its stellar acting performance from its leads. Throughout the movie, you will feel the emotions of the actors and actresses on the screen and what they are going through. And the story itself does a good job at trying not to paint a black and white picture of a divorce instead making it a grey affair where both the man and the woman are in some part in fault. This is one of 2019s best acting and you need to see it just for that.

Surely this must have drawn heavily from writer/director Baumbach's own experiences. He was married to Jennifer Jason Leigh and they have one son, plus before they divorced in 2013 he began a relationship with Greta Gerwig in 2011. So he probably lived much of what is depicted here.

The two principals, Adam Driver as Brooklyn stage director Charlie Barber and Scarlett Johansson as actress Nicole Barber, are superb in their roles. While it seemed like they were happily married for 10-odd years, with an 8-yr-old son, Nicole began to more and more feel that her own desires were being ignored while as a married couple they always did what Charlie wanted. When she gets an opportunity to take a TV role in Los Angeles she also decides that it is the right time for the two of them to split up. Charlie is blindsided.

It is often a hard story to watch because even to the end it is clear that, in spite of the required animosities during divorce proceedings, Nicole and Charlie have a bond and care deeply for each other.

My wife and I (both having gone through divorces of our own years ago) watched this on DVD from our public library.

Marriage Story directed by Noah Baumbach is an extremely well observed portrayal of two people who once loved each other and are now going through the painfull and ugly process of separation and divorce with a son torn between them.

Thanks to the great script this process is shown in an impartial way where both sides are relatable. The acting by Driver and Johansson is phenomenal and arguably the best i have seen this year. They are nailing the quiet moments as well as the loud.

I only had some minor issues with the movie. I think some of the side characters like Charlies lawyer and some of the people working at the theater are stereotyped. Also the humor felt sometimes forced and out of place.

Marriage Story is a pretty great movie and one of the best of 2019. If Ingmar Bergman is too bleak for you and Woody Allen too quirky, this movie sits right between them and you will love it.