Marriage Story

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.

It is refreshing to see a film that can both warmly respect and ruthlessly dissect the institution of marriage. While every marriage is unique, there are universal scenarios that can signal their demise. Two of these are central to Marriage Story (2019): the film forensically examines what happens when one partner's ego swallows another, then shows the destructive force that is unleashed when lawyers come between otherwise still-caring partners.

The storyline is simple, linear, and dialogue-heavy. In the opening minutes we see respected theatre director Charlie (Adam Driver) and his increasingly successful actress wife Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) in the middle of a marital mediation session. He is opening a new play on Broadway while she will be taking their young son to Los Angeles to star in a TV pilot. The session stalls despite their obvious regard for each other and their commitment to avoid lawyers in a marriage split.

Classic marital tension lines become palpably clear. Charlie and Nicole met when he was a high-profile director and she a theatre novice, and this imbalance of egos remain embedded in all aspects of their relationship. Although a loving father, the self-absorbed Charlie had an affair which is now being weaponised as she asserts her identity and needs. She decides to engage a lawyer forcing him to follow suit or lose custody of their young son; the communication drawbridge is pulled up as the lawyers amplify every marital issue into a war cry on an ever more blood-splattered battlefield.

Nothing new here, you might say, except for two bright lights in a dark place: Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. He is perfect in playing the broad faced deer-in-the-spotlight hapless male, confused over his marital and parental mess-ups...but he sings a beautiful song. She is brilliant in playing a wife no longer willing to be invisible despite still loving the man she married. An ensemble of lawyers include a benignly caring advisor (Alan Alda) and ruthless warriors who take no prisoners (Laura Dern and Ray Liotta).

You don't need to be a divorce voyeur to find this well-trodden story highly absorbing, mostly because the two stars make it hard to take sides. Charlie's weaknesses are not unforgiveable and his love for his son and wife continue. Nicole has a right to her own independent future but still feels strongly about him. If lawyers were not involved, things could be very different. Marriage Story is an insightful, witty, and sad portrait of how easily a marital fairytale can turn to a nightmare.

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.

I didn't expect this to mirror how my ex wife and I had to go through the stages of divorce so accurately. My son was only 2 when we were divorced and all of the ups and downs and petty fights and anger that we had for each other was exhausting but we went through it all just to fight for him, who we both love more than anything. We said horrible things to each other we can never take back but we didn't really mean and we both eventually found a way to make it work for him and to protect him from the ugliness. We made it through to the other side and have a good relationship now and work as a team to raise him with love and support but it was a long road out of hell to get there. This movie portrayed that in a way I would never have expected. It made me cry numerous times thinking of how hopeless and angry I was for so long and in that I feel like this movie deserves every accolade it gets. It felt genuine and painful but with hope at the end. It's real and powerful.

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.