Cinema is awash with films about the beginning of love. But what about the end of it? They are less prevalent, especially any that deal explicitly with divorce. Of course, one of the first to come to mind will be Robert Benton's Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979) with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. Well, you can now add Marriage Story to that list.
Written and directed by Noah Baumbach (The Squid And The Whale, Margot At The Wedding), Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson play the disintegrating couple- Charlie, a theatre director and Nicole, an actress, respectively- negotiating the end of their relationship, including custody of their young son Henry (Azhy Robertson).
Baumbach based large parts of the screenplay on his own experiences; in 2013, he went through a divorce from Jennifer Jason Leigh. That's probably why the film feels so authentic, so real. You can believe these two characters having these conversations. It also highlights things that you wouldn't necessarily think of when a relationship breaks down- such as negotiating extended family relationships (Charlie has a good relationship with Nicole's mum Sandra, for example).
Performances are extremely strong throughout. Johansson is a revelation as Nicole; for anyone who's only ever seen her in the MCU movies, you're missing out. She gets an extraordinary five-minute monologue where she explains to her lawyer (a superb turn by Laura Dern) about how the relationship has curdled; it's done in one take, and she's absolutely transfixing. Matching her in intensity is Driver as Charlie; whilst he's pretty much responsible for wrecking the marriage by sleeping with someone else, there's still a level of sympathy with him. Their climactic fight, when some very ugly truths come spilling out, will make your breath catch in your throat.
In support, Alan Alda adds a warmth as Charlie's first lawyer Bert. Ray Liotta, in contrast, is a typical shark lawyer, who Charlie hires when things start to get nasty. Dern gets a brilliant speech where she bemoans the double standards in divorce proceedings- that women have to be perfect and unimpeachable, while men are often allowed to get away with less than stellar behaviour. The only performance that doesn't quite fit for me is Julie Hagerty as Nicole's mum Sandra- in a film of low-key and unshowy performances, her exuberant, quirky demeanour jars a little (although she gets a good couple of lines which lift the mood somewhat).
I wish I'd seen this earlier in December so I could have talked about it more in our Review of 2019. It would have definitely made it onto my Nice List. I can see why this has been getting a lot of awards attention, and I think it's going to do well at the Oscars. Not a light, fluffy film by any stretch of the imagination- but it's an exceptionally well-made drama, with a strong script and superb performances. Well worth two hours of your time.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Tez
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