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| Marriage Story poster: The colours are very muted. The film has been nominated for a lot of awards. Charlie (Adam Driver), Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), and Henry (Azhy Robertson) are having fun, all smiling. Nicole's eyes are closed like Charlie's lips on her forehead tickles. |
The Director: Noah Baumbach
The Cast:
Scarlett Johansson – Nicole
Adam Driver – Charlie
Laura Dern – Nora Fanshaw
Julie Hagerty – Sandra
Ray Liotta – Jay MarottaWallace Shawn – Frank
Azhy Robertson – Henry
Released on Netflix: 6th December 2019
The Plot:
Nicole (Johansson, Avengers Endgame) and Charlie
(Driver, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) are going through a divorce. For
the sake of their son, they have to do so amicably, but the law doesn’t make it
easy.
The Review:
Netflix summaries Marriage Story as “incisive” and “a
compassionate look at a marriage coming apart.” It was easy to scoff before I
saw it. My first experience of divorce in a film came from 1998’s The Parent
Trap: while it is a quirky take on what happens when a couple split (with a
fantastic debut from Lindsay Lohan – for far too long I believed she was an
actual twin), the ending is a little far-fetched today.
Worse still, some American films have a nasty habit of rushing
into a happy ending. As a child of a divorced couple himself, Steven Spielberg’s
War of the Worlds is a prime example of forcing characters to patch
things up for the kids, in the wake of the Martian invasion. Call me cynical,
but even as a tween, I was insulted by this sentimental U-turn.
Fortunately, Marriage Story is neither far-fetched
nor sappy. Similar to Spielberg (and almost everyone working on this particular
film), Baumbach experienced a divorce first-hand; the story offers small and
intimate windows into Nicole and Charlie’s predicament without being
voyeuristic about it. We are introduced through a therapy exercise, as Nicole
and Charlie read out letters describing each other’s strengths and flaws –
however, Nicole (a suitably brilliant Johansson) refuses to read hers aloud
during the session. The eventual pay-off is beautiful.
It’s not difficult to praise any of the actors’ performances,
because it all seems completely natural, even easy to believe that these are
real people living out their lives as I write this. What are they going to
dress up as on Halloween this year? How is Charlie’s show doing on Broadway?
It could be said that Driver’s character gets the short
straw during the divorce, simply because he is the father (as passionately
stated by Laura Dern in a well-deserved Oscar-winning performance). Visiting
Nicole’s family, only to be handed the divorce file by her sister (because
Nicole is not allowed to do it by law), and a rather disastrous visit from an
evaluator, are great examples of the film’s dark humour. It comes as no
surprise when Charlie and Nicole finally row towards the end of the film, to
which Driver explodes with frustrated energy that is absolutely gripping.
Marriage Story was a pleasant surprise. It is
grounded, gentle, and doesn’t rely on melodrama to keep the audience enthralled
- although the score is a little out-of-place.
The Verdict: 4 STARS OUT OF 5
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