Movie Review: Marriage Story
SPOILER ALERT: I’ll talk about specific scenes and elements of this film’s plot, so if you have not seen it I encourage you to watch it before reading this review. However, you may want to jump down to the bottom of this post for a note on the film’s content before watching the film. Marriage Story is currently available on Netflix.
My parents divorced when I was in college. There was certainly a lot of pain in that time, but as time has progressed, our family has figured out how to reform and find joy in our new ways of connecting. Even more than that, the first night I learned of my parents’ separation which started the process towards their divorce was also the first night that a girl name Sarah messaged me on Facebook. That summer we began dating, and a few months later we were engaged. She and I have been married for more than four years now, and we watched Noah Baumbach’s new film Marriage Story together on Netflix.
I note those personal elements, because Marriage Story is a very personal film. I don’t necessarily mean that it is a personal film for Baumbach even, though he has spoken at length about how that is very much the case. What I mean is that this is a film that cares about people - both the people it depicts on screen and the people watching it. This is about how people connect and how that connection often brings friction with it.
The film follows the story of Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson). We meet them through voiceover as each character describes the other while accompanying vignettes are shown on screen. I’m sometimes suspect of the use of voiceover, as it is often used as a storytelling crutch. But here, Baumbach uses the voiceover to great designs, as we later realize they are in a counseling session and are being forced to talk about one another. It snaps you right into the film’s milieu.
Charlie is an accomplished theater director, and he made Nicole the star of an acclaimed play in New York. But Nicole’s family is in L.A. and there are things she has always wanted to accomplish on her own outside of theater work. She doesn’t feel fully seen. After a length of time trying to make this work, she files for divorce. We watch as the family navigates this process. Charlie is so consumed by his work that he has no frame of reference for lawyers and divorce proceedings. He doesn’t even think Nicole will want to involve lawyers. Though she may not want to, the story does eventually go there. The whole process is difficult on all involved, and we watch as they attempt to pick up the pieces.
Here is where I must praise the film’s acting. Driver and Johansson deserve top praise here as they are both fantastic. It might just be career-defining work from each of them, which is saying quite a bit. They are both wonderful actors and have formed very accomplished careers. Here, they unearth layer after layer of these characters, letting us in on the treasures as we go.
There are great supporting turns, too. Laura Dern plays Nicole’s lawyer, Nora, and she fully embodies the role. Azhy Robertson plays Charlie and Nicole’s son, Henry, and given my personal history, I very much connected with his character, though my family’s experience was strikingly different than this story in key ways. Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Merritt Wever, and Martha Kelly each have impactful scenes as well.
There is an irony in the film’s title. As you watch the story unfold, it certainly seems more like a “divorce story” rather than a marriage story. But marriage is a word with multiple meanings, isn’t it? The holiest form of marriage is matrimony, and that’s how we often use the word. But it can also be used to describe “the combination or mixture of two elements.” Despite their divorce, Charlie and Nicole are still in the process of combining and mixing their lives, so this is a marriage in a way.
I don’t want to diminish the importance of marriage in the sense of the legal and marital definition of the word. Matrimony is a uniquely important relationship, and divorce always brings hardships with it. However, this film chooses to focus on the moments of connection that can happen amid the pain. This is not a “divorce story” and the film’s title rings true even as the main characters drift further apart. This is what it looks like when two lives must still be joined together - or married - despite the ending of a marriage.
From a technical standpoint, the film’s editing is absolutely fantastic. Jennifer Lame, the film’s editor, did a fantastic job, and I think this is one of the best examples of film editing this year. One key example for me was a scene where Nicole is talking to Henry and mentions that rolling blackouts in her area have hit and now her gate won’t close. A hard cut takes us to a shot of Nicole waiting for Charlie and Henry to arrive. That cut tells us what we need to know, then we see Charlie and Henry walking up the drive. As Charlie attempts to fix the gate, Nicole notices his shaggy hair and offers to cut it. She used to cut his hair. He obliges, and we get one of the many human moments in the midst of their family’s upheaval. As Charlie and Henry leave to go home, they close the gate by hand and we get these quick cuts between the faces of Charlie and Nicole as the gate shuts between them. The editing of this scene underscores the fact that their relationship has changed. How they connected before will not be how they connect from here on out.
This is also my favorite scene in the film for the writing of it. Take the gate, for instance. In a lesser film, we’d build to that moment where the gate closes between Charlie and Nicole without much setup. Yes, it is the perfect metaphor for what is happening in their lives, but it’s also a moment in the film that would be very easy to overemphasize. If you underline that moment of the gate closing too much, it feels forced. But Baumbach sets up the fact that the electricity went out and the gate isn’t working. It’s just part of the story, to the point that when that powerful metaphorical shot does come, we’re surprised by it. The writing and editing work together here to form just about a perfect scene.
Also, this may just be the year’s best film score. Randy Newman provided the music for the film, and he does an incredible job and accenting moments with powerful musical cues. But I never felt like the music was underlining moments for me. There is so much emotion already in this film, that we don’t need the music to do the heavy lifting for us. But when the movie decides to deploy the music, Newman gives us such evocative melodies that you can’t help but be drawn in.
Now, there has been some talk about which side this movie comes down on - Charlie’s or Nicole’s. I don’t think that is a particularly interesting way to view the film, but if we must, I think it is very even-handed. It shows how Charlie’s behavior led to Nicole’s feelings of abandonment in their marriage. It shows how Nicole’s foray into the legal battle takes its toll on Charlie. I’m not saying the film equates what Charlie and Nicole do, but I do think that it allows us to connect with the intentions of each character. I think there is one scene, in particular, that shows this even-handed approach.
About two-thirds of the way through the movie, we get a courtroom scene. Nicole and Nora think they have the proceedings wrapped up, until Charlie shows up with Jay Marotta (Liotta), a tough lawyer of his own. As Jay and Nora duke it out in the courtroom, we get repeated reaction shots of Charlie and Nicole. Neither of them are enjoying this. In fact, they hate it. They don’t agree with the accusations that these lawyers are lobbying at the other side. They know these lawyers only see them as a case file. And yet, here they are. They are being swept up in a system that is outside their control, even though they were the ones who chose to go this route. They may have made that initial choice, but what has happened since is not what they would have chosen. They both are in that same place, and brings us into an even greater sense of connection with both characters.
I could go on and on about this film, but if you’re interested in more discussion on Marriage Story, I’d direct you to an episode of the InSession Film Podcast where I was a guest to discuss this film and Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage. It’s a testament to Baumbach’s work and the work of all the artists involved that this film has so much to unpack.
I’ll close by saying that the film’s final scene is a powerful emotional closing to this story we’ve just witnessed. We see these characters make small gestures that show that they are looking out for the other one. They aren’t trying to stake their claim to emotional ground. They aren’t trying to express their point of view. They are co-existing in each other’s lives, and they genuinely want good for the other person. It’s a moving way to close out this story that has taken us to difficult moments. But that’s how life is, isn’t it? Marriage Story has a keen insight into the ways that life really works, and that’s part of what makes it such a powerful film.
NOTE ON CONTENT: The most adult content in the film comes in the form of profanity. There is strong language throughout the film. As a film about marital struggles, there are also many scenes that are emotionally powerful and are sometimes difficult to watch. This is certainly and adult drama about adult issues. There is also one scene that has a moment of gore after an accident. But that is the only violence in the film. For sexual content, there are some explicit comments during the film, and there is one sex scene, though no nudity is shown. We also find out that there has been infidelity in Nicole and Charlie’s marriage. Overall, this may not be a film for young viewers, but it’s themes of a family finding ways to connect in the midst of hardship are powerful, surely. It will be up to each family’s discretion as to what ages will be appropriate for this type of content. The film is currently available on Netflix, and I think it is clearly one of the best films of the year.