Marriage Story

Scenes of married life, or what passes for it. I didn't know whether to prepare myself for absolute heartbreak from a little boy's perspective or for a rundown of the deliberate toxicity that can be generated by two people who once loved each other more than anything in the world. And although there is at least a taste of both present, I was decently beside myself in both cases. The main action surprisingly focuses on the legal process of divorce itself and what it forces both spouses to do, regardless of their original intentions. It is a spectacle full of bewildered frowns and disappointment at the inevitable, and thanks to Adam Driver's spot-on performance, it gets under your skin. Scarlett Johansson has the kinds of lines where you can hear the rustling of paper, which is not her fault but rather Noah Baumbach's, who clearly has Charlie figured out and yet is struggling painfully to understand the other side, which he never fully does. I expected more emotional clashes, which came only in the declining (but all the more powerful) finale, and I also expected more natural transitions within the carefully constructed legal process of divorce itself. In the end, it is neither as devastating nor as disarming as I expected or hoped, yet the story is incredibly strong, unpleasant at the right moments, and in the first and last place, honest. (2019-12-14)

With Marriage Story, it’s like when you forget that you’re watching actors in a film and you feel as though you are intensely living the situation that the protagonists are going through. This is a fragile, dialogue-driven relationship film that employs excellent camerawork and editing in telling the story. Scarlett’s first confession to her lawyer is perhaps the film’s most brilliant scene. Her acting is comparable to Naomi Watts’s breathtaking performance in the rehearsal scene from Mulholland Drive. There is also, for example, the build-up of tension through editing, with gradual approaches to tense faces in the quarrel, and the climax in which the worst is said and then immediately regretted. It wouldn’t work so well on the stage without those close-ups of the actors’ faces. The dialogue is so authentic and the natures of the characters so precisely formed that playing them must have been creative ecstasy. And it’s not just Driver and Scarlett who turn in wonderful performances here. Laura Dern makes a full-force comeback in a small space and Ray Liotta masterfully makes up for his absence in The Irishman in an even smaller space. Marriage Story is like the best of Woody Allen, with a touch of La La Land’s heart. In my opinion, an Oscar for best screenplay is inevitable. (2019-12-24)

Precisely balanced with a spicy script and many brilliant scenes. Baumbach at his best. He's not afraid to work with emotions and will even invite a bunch of old codgers to help him out. Laura Dern, Alan Alda and especially Ray Liotta portray exactly what is expected of them. And when it sometimes goes to the absurd, the writer and director in one always break it in another direction and the ride continues. I wouldn’t hesitate to call Marriage Story the relationship drama of the year. It does not moralise, nor does it take sides, it does an excellent job of showing the typically masculine ills of self-centeredness and not listening to the other side, as well as the feminine ills of not thinking rationally and sacrificing family for one's own sense of achievement, work fulfillment and satisfaction. Both sides are easy to understand, the fuck-up is right in the middle. And they portray that fact flawlessly. (2019-12-28)

All unhappy marriages are similar ... Baumbach has always had a weakness for overusing “Allen-esque" features; from New York to neurotic characters to a whirlwind of words filling 110 percent of the running time. But in the end, it has always been more about those too excessive emotions and solving deeply-rooted problems through paper-rustling nonstop dialogue than it was about the characters. Which is not the case this time, because the central married couple are “lifelike". Yes, Baumbach keeps Driver at the level of “continue playing Sackler in Girls" and Johansson as Woody himself styled her a decade ago, but that doesn't really matter, because they're both completely accurate and do a very good job of handling tense scenes full of big emotions in the form of a “devastating spiral" in the sense of "now we're not even pretending to resolve anything or arguing to release tension; we're just trying to hurt each other by saying stuff that we don't really want to say and can't take back", as well as quiet moments of mutual understanding and respect. The whole movie is about the two lead actors' performances. There are no weak moments, as their acting remains outstanding throughout the film. Their performances are confident. In addition, Baumbach has become an experienced screenwriter and director. His previous films would give the one-dimensional supporting “relief" characters, who bring a pinch of humor and farce (mother, sister, lawyers), a much greater role, which would have ruined everything in this film. The only moments when Marriage Story stumbles is when it sometimes comes across as “a documentary record of the end of the official and personal level of a long-term relationship". As a result, Marriage Story is a chronicle of the purgatory called divorce. And that in itself is so telling that there is no need to say anything else. (2019-12-06)

A very powerful cinematic experience that I can't give a full score to just because of the state of mind, even despair, it sent me into. After all the pressure about getting married and having kids that I got during my Christmas visits – as a thirty-something, long-engaged girl – now the threat of divorce is now creeping into my thoughts. Thanks, I really needed that. Maybe I'm being a little too open about my private life, but that's largely due to this movie. It wasn’t just the dialogue and the differing attitudes of the man and woman that stirred a lot of emotions in me. It's brilliantly acted, written, and filmed, but also exhausting in its own way... 4.5 stars. (2019-12-29)