Summary:
A married couple learns how to live with each other as they come to terms with their divorce and what that means for the future of their child.
My Thoughts:
Noah Baumbach has sort of always been hit or miss for me, but when he hits, he hits really hard. I honestly couldn’t have cared less about “Greenberg”, but I liked “The Meyerowitz Stories”, “While We’re Young”, and “The Squid and the Whale”, and I’ve been told I’m missing out by not having seen “Frances Ha”. I’m going to go out on a limb and say right at the top of this review that this is the best thing Baumbach has ever made. I don’t care that I haven’t seen five of his films; this is the best thing he’s ever made, because this is one of the best, most honest films about love and heartbreak I’ve ever seen.
“Marriage Story” is a masterpiece that made me feel as if I’d been dragged through my worst breakup for a second time, but more than that, it made me appreciate the messiness of life and how easily it is to get ourselves tangled up with others. This is easily one of the best films of the year; I feel like it would be impossible not to watch this film and not be affected in any way. If you’ve ever had any relationship with anyone, you’ll find incredibly poignant universal truths that ring loud in this film.
“Criminal lawyers see bad people at their best, divorce lawyers see good people at their worst.”
Charlie (Adam Driver, “The Report”) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson, “Under the Skin”) are a married couple with a child named Henry (Azhy Robertson, “Juliet, Naked”). After a few years of marriage, the couple decides that their lives are headed in different directions, and they need to separate. As they work through their divorce, they learn how to cope with the end of a marriage, but the beginning of a new kind of relationship that will last for the rest of their lives.
I think the thing I loved about this movie was just the rawness of every emotion that Baumbach was able to bring to screen. This film is semi-autobiographical; Baumbach was married to actress Jennifer Jason-Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”) from 2005 to 2013 and the two have a child together. As I was researching this film to write the review, I learned that Baumbach worked with the actors to help create their characters in a way that utilized their own experiences; Johansson and Baumbach have been divorced themselves, and Driver’s parents were divorced. Furthermore, Laura Dern’s (“Jurassic Park”) character, Nora Fanshaw, is based on a divorce lawyer that represented both Johansson and Dern in their divorces. That kind of honesty and intimacy about personal connections to the story helped to bring out a layer of emotionality that I never would’ve expected.
Another thing I loved about the honesty of this movie was that we weren’t meant to really choose a side. Both parties in this relationship had done damaging things, and both had done things to try to improve the relationship, and in the end, they just came to the conclusion that they weren’t right for one another. The process of separation is painful, and both Nicole and Charlie realize that; through this divorce they try to understand that a new relationship will be born out of the ashes of their marriage, because they have a child together- they’ll never really be out of each other’s lives. There’s a part when Nicole is talking to Nora about how she still loves Charlie, that some part of her always will, but she also knows that being together would be harmful to both of them in the long run. I’ve rarely seen films that handle that kind of transition with such poignancy and honesty.
I think Adam Driver gives the best performance of his career. There’s one fight scene in this film that lasts ten to fifteen minutes, and it’s got to be one of the most epic marital disputes ever put on screen, but, again, it feels so familiar to things anyone who has ever been in a relationship has experienced. We all have moments where tensions run high and our tempers get the best of us, and we all have moments of reconciliation, and this film shows both the highs and lows beautifully. Scarlett Johansson gave a great performance as well, though, if I’m being honest, I didn’t think she was as good as Driver. I was actually more impressed with Laura Dern’s performance than I was with Johansson’s. Dern’s character feels so effortlessly powerful, and she just steals every scene she’s in without trying.
Verdict:
As we approach the end of 2019, I suppose I’m grateful that we’ve had so many great films. Right now, I would not at all be mad if “Marriage Story” won Best Picture, but I could say the same thing about “The Irishman”, “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”, “Parasite”, or “The Lighthouse”. This has been a great year, and this is one of the greatest films to come out of this year. I’d love it if Dern won best supporting actor, and right now I’m hoping either Driver or Bandaras (“Pain and Glory”) takes home best actor. Do yourself a favor: see this film.
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