Marriage Story

This arty drama from Noah Baumbach is one of two Awards-heavy films that are presented on Netflix and so easy to watch without having to go to the cinema! It’s a study of a marriage coming apart, which sounds like a difficult sell but somehow this is approachable. Mostly because the writing is pretty good, and the performances are exceptional.

Charlie is a hot-shot theatre director in New York. Married to Nicole, an actress, they have a young son and they are living their life until Nicole realises that objectively she is not happy. Adam Driver and Scartlett Johansson star as the couple—and although there is love between them there is also one-sided disappointment. Nicole reads in voice-over a document she’s prepared, evidently for marriage guidance purposes, in which she explains what’s excellent about Charlie, but in person she is soon getting angry in front of the mediator.

The film manages not to take sides, even though it seems as though it might be one-sided. Charlie has had great success at a young age and his need to move to Los Angeles to direct a play is what sets off the separation. The lawyers on either side are grasping and dispassionate, and the boy is a negotiating point. This bewildering legal horror show manages to alienates each of them in different ways which magnifies the reluctance that they’ve both felt about acting on the decision to separate.

The performances are incredible. Adam Driver’s an interesting actor, and in a way a wünderkind theatre director is an excellent role for someone with his appearance and intensity. He always looks and seems like Driver, though—and there’s a showy scene where he gets up at a bar and sings a song from a Stephen Sondheim musical. He is surrounded by genuine actors of course, and Wallace Shawn is probably the biggest and lowest-key name in the ensemble. But Scarlett Johansson is incredible. She too will always look like the famous actor that she is, but she dials down the performance tricks that actors must have in their nature to seem like a mother who continues to want a big break as a performer. Finally Laura Dern is pretty great as Nicole’s lawyer.

This is a film of fine performances, and would have been a BBC Drama back in the day. Now it’s a Netflix film that’s been shown a bit in cinemas so that it can pick up Award nominations. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is not a big-screen kind of film.