When love doesn’t make sense in a relationship anymore, what is left in it?
‘Marriage Story’ attempts to tackle this seemingly straightforward yet complicated issue, especially when the relationship involves a young child that triggered a custody battle.
Written, directed and produced by Noah Baumbach, ‘Marriage Story’ investigated the break down and salvaging of a marriage between Scarlett Johansson’s Nicole and Adam Driver’s Charlie. It was love at first sight because of each other’s wits and talents but as the relationship and marriage progressed, sacrifices that at first seemed natural became the malice that plagued the ego that fuelled their talents. Is it necessary for one to diminish for the other to flourish? Or were there always options but the unhappiness that was saturated during the years had completely eroded those options away? Everybody had a take on what should be going on and what are the best for Charlie and Nicole, from their therapist, to their lawyers and even their family members. But who was actually ready to commit to understand them instead of looking at how they could be seen on top of things?
‘Marriage Story’ is quite heavy most of the time. However, the heaviness was not manufactured as both Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver delivered some of their best and natural performances in the whole two and a half hours. The movie opened with their statements of admiration but when cut to their therapy session, the lightness and playfulness immediately turned into weights in the air. Scarlett’s turn of attitude was imposing while Adam’s yearn for mediation was hallowing. The tone of the movie was set – it is about two persons trying to sort out issues that both of them deep inside knew probably they had no way out. There were a lot of great scenes from the opening scene to the post production notes scene, then Nicole’s monologue about her identity issues, Adam and Nicole’s self-mediation, to Adam facing the truth of being judged by a stranger on his relationship with his son. They were just huge story telling punches one after another perfectly delivered by the lead actors.
For me some of the more memorable ones were Scarlett’s Nicole’s emotional turn from discussing the notes with her husband in a composed manner to completely silently breaking down once the professional relationship was over in the conversation, and Adam’s Charlie accidentally found out the notes written by Nicole and at his son’s request read it to him, without his son knowing that those were notes of admiration intended to save the marriage. For me Scarlett and Adam both demonstrated in this movie that they are not just Black Widow and Kylo Ren once again. They are really fine actors who can do both big blockbusters and small independent cinemas. They are extremely endearing to watch and I didn’t really feel like I have spent 2.5 hours in the dark because I was completely drawn into this totally believable story.
Laura Dern as Nicole’s lawyer Nora was also scene stealing although at times I felt like her character is a bit too similar to her turn as Renata in ‘Big Little Lies’. They are both strong women who took control and knew exactly what they were going for. But for me the softer sides she displayed at times and her character’s ability to switch between personal and professional relationships in split seconds demonstrated that Laura was the right casting choice. With this character if not handled properly it could easily become very one dimensional. Having said that I do find Nicole’s mother and sister were quite annoying and at times were nothing but scene fillers. I didn’t think they informed Nicole’s background that well apart from trying to portray Nicole coming from a household of women who mostly cared about themselves but nobody else. Maybe it was supposed to be a stark contrast to flash out Nicole’s character a bit more, but I personally find screen times with those two ladies around quite distracting and uneventful.
The custody battle of the separation procedure took up a huge portion of the movie and became the main conflict between the couple. It further demonstrated that there is no such thing as a fairy tale divorce. Self-interests, whether with good intentions or not, will always be exploited by people around you who thought they were working in your best interest. It was sad that Charlie and Nicole needed to go through a divorce to figure out who they are and what they want in this relationship. But at the end of the day they came out both as a better person for each other and a better parent for their son.
‘Marriage Story’ is not the easiest thing to watch. Its story telling impact stays on even after the credit rolls. However, for me it is one of the most well told stories in the cinema this year. I heard that both Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver signed on to the project even prior to the script was done. This demonstrated that their immense confidence with Noah Baumbach had paid off – both artistically and critically.
I will recommend The Marriage Story to anyone who is looking for a meaty story that was well told and well retold.
