A Marriage Story

A Marriage Story(Noah Baumbach, 2019) is an academy award winning movie that follows play director Charlie(Adam Driver) and actress Nicole(Scarlett Johansson) who are going through a divorce, and the movie follows their individual struggle, changing relationship, and desperate fight for custody and integrity in a painful and destructive situation.

Firstly it would be good to pay some attention to the way that the movie plays out. It tends to follow Nicole for a while at the start, just before she and Charlie separate, and this time is used to tell what her side of the story is like. The way that she presents her story makes her ex fiancé Charlie come across like the selfish one in the relationship, using his wife and never doing as she wanted. But later on in the film we seen what Charlie does when he’s alone, and since he is more hesitant than Nicole to hire a lawyer for the divorce, it takes a lot more time to see how he perceives things, and how he feels of the marriage and his ex-partner.

This grounded format of story telling makes the characters feel real and genuine, almost like they are being documented, not written. The way that the protagonists act, usually imperfectly, exposes their flaws and shows to the audience what kind of people they are. Their differences let us know why they are divorcing, and why you can’t route for either one of them, since both have character flaws and moments of selfishness.

The movie also cleverly uses film en scen and cinematography to convey subtle messages to the audience. The best examples of this are how often objects are placed between two characters to show that they are divided. This is obvious in the images above, used early in the film so say, without words, how the two characters in frame are related. Close but separate. Together but apart. This also happens when one character goes into another room but the frame remains on the person outside said room, to emphasise that there is a subtler meaning behind this.

Another thing that I noticed about the story was the cruelty of it all. A big aspect of the film is how Nicole and Charlies story is slowly used more and more by their lawyers to attack the other ones case in the divorce. The lawyers are not villains, you understand, but they are very aggressive in court, and over time make their clients look more and more selfish and greedy, making the relationship between Nicole and Charlie worse, despite their best intentions and efforts to remain friends. But one thing that I noticed early on in the film was that Charlies style of play directing seems to focus heavily on the emotions of the character. We see in a brief scene how he portrays his characters and symbolises their emotions, through dramatised and artistic directing and scenery on stage.

It is an ironic twist of fate later on in the film that he and Nicole, who often acted in his plays, should have their own emotions twisted so bitterly, to the point where Charlie and Nicole are almost acting out their own tragic play. Except in real life, the way that people portray their emotions is a low more raw and ugly, as seen in Charlies later breakdown. So it is almost like Charlie is learning that real life is different from his plays. He has no control over it, and his emotions are on display for everyone to see. His obsession with doing only what he wanted to do was the main reason Nicole divorced him after all, and we see as the movie goes on Charlies desperate effort to have control grow and grow, and this is symbolised through his fight for custody. Over his son, Henry. And the ending of the film shows that Charlie must come to accept he can’t control real life, and must settle for being content with what he has.

Adam Driver plays the husband, Charlie, in the film, and his performance is one of the most genuine and real I’ve seen in a long time. He was nominated for best supporting actor, but I honestly believe he should of won it. His crying is heartbreaking to hear, his anger feels real, and his trying soon becoming desperateness creates a flawed but sympathetic character. Scarlett Johansson also gives an incredible performance, one that won her a nomination for best supporting actress. Both of them are so realistic that you are completely engrossed in their story arc’s, development, and emotions. Even to the point where you forget it isn’t.

Their son, Henry(Azhy Robertson) is also used strategically as a plot device to reveal more about the characters. He is still a character in himself, but is mostly there to show what Charlies motivation is, how Nicole views her ex husband, and why they are struggling here. Charlie wants only to new a good father, Nicole wants to be more of a mother, without Charlie looming over her, and how the marriage is failing due to their failure to share their kid. A goal that they end up striving towards through realisation of their flaws and shortcomings as parents and people.

I think that that is the main message that the director, Noah Baumbach, was trying to convey. No matter how much you may hate someone, or how much you fear you may lose to them, being kind to those who rely on you id the kindest trait that one must try to have, and never forget. At their end of the day, when all is settled, the best thing that you can look back on, is the memories where you did something for someone else, and forgave someone for doing something wrong to you. And even forgiving yourself for your own inadequacies.

I personally loved this movie! I thought the writing was raw and compassionate, the acting real and believable, the pacing perfect and the story a strong and engrossing one. This movie is beautiful and truly a piece of art. I was never bored, confused, or in-interested. I wanted to know how this story ended, and when it did I was happy for watching it. I rate A Marriage Story ★★★★★!