Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story punched me in the gut as no other film had in 2019. It’s not my personal favorite of the year. Still, it’s one of the year’s best because of its unflinching honesty and simplicity of its story, which finds two people falling out of love and navigating a divorce. What I’ve learned since I’ve seen Marriage Story is that everyone isn’t connecting to the film the same way I did. I’m a child of divorce and found that so much of it rang true, but I’ve talked to others who have grown up the same way and said that this film didn’t resonate for them. As I’ve had time to sit with the movie for a while now, I will say that there is an air of pretentiousness that could separate the viewer from the subject matter. Baumbach does write with a bit of a substantial hand, and the two lead characters are working in professions that aren’t 100% relatable to most, but Baumbach gets all of the emotions right. Marriage Story, based on Baumbach’s own experience with divorce, allows the writer/director to let down his guard and give us a glimpse inside how real, painful and challenging the dissolution of marriage can be.
As we enter Marriage Story, we are examining it as if we are exploring an autopsy. Despite an opening that has Charlie (Adam Driver) providing voice-over about what he loves about Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and vice-versa, the couple is in the process of splitting up. We are becoming privy to all the reasons why. What Baumbach does with the opening is brilliant because by giving us a look into these happier times, we are more emotionally invested in what is about to be lost. A lot of films focus on the bitterness of divorce, but as we enter the film, we learn that there is much more than anger and resentment between the two. There is still love there, even if a lot of it has lost its way.
A bulk of Marriage Story‘s runtime is devoted to the complicated process of divorce. Charlie and Nicole share a son named Henry (Azhy Robertson), and he’s much of the reason the couple begins to handle their divorce amicably. Nicole is moving (back) to L.A. to re-start her dormant career as a T.V. actress while theater director Charlie remains in New York to shepherd his play to Broadway, which means Charlie makes frequent cross-country trips to spend time with him, an arrangement that appears to work out well at first. The exact breakdown begins once the couple involves lawyers, and the first to do this is Nicole, who hires the no-nonsense Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern) to represent her. Nora is a shark in every sense of the word, and even though she presents a personality that seems to relate to Nicole’s need to want to handle all this fairly, it becomes clear that Nora will make necessary moves to make sure her client comes out on top. After initially selecting a shark of his own to represent him named Jay Marotta (Ray Liotta), Charlie backs off and goes for the more subtle Bert Spitz (Alan Alda). Circumstances make Charlie revert to Jay as the divorce grows uglier as the days go on.
The lawyer aspect of the story is an exciting subplot because it took rings with raw and emotional truth. The bulk of the reason that Nicole and Charlie’s situation grows more brutal is due to the extreme tactics that are used by the professionals representing them. This is more true of Nicole’s lawyer Nora, who proves that she will put anything out there about Charlie to win. In a scene where the couple is hammering out if Los Angeles or New York is their primary residence to raise their child, Nora is relentless in her approach to prove that New York is not a feasible option for her client and their child. As she gives Charlie compliments about his play in one breath, she is putting down the stability of his living situation in the next. In another moment, after Charlie has decided to go with Jay to represent him, the two lawyers are defending their client’s interests. Still, the argument becomes more about the lawyers rather than what’s best for two involved. Having known people who have used relentless lawyers to represent them in their divorces, this aspect of winning at all costs is painfully real and only shows how their needs to win overshadow what’s best for all involved.
As in most cases of divorce, their son Henry is caught in the middle, and for me, this became the most real, albeit painful, part of the movie for me to watch. Both parents drive home the fact that he’s the most crucial thing in all of this, but that doesn’t stop both of them from occasionally using Henry as a pawn. Henry is just a child in the middle of a situation he doesn’t quite understand, and he reacts in ways that most children would. Nicole tends to give in and give Henry whatever he wants while Charlie is a bit more of a disciplinarian. Some of their opposite parenting tactics play out in front of Henry, and it’s clear that sometimes one parent makes it a point to shine over the other while in the presence of their child. Essentially this puts a child in the position to choose between the two parents, and while there isn’t a pivotal moment of choice for Henry in Marriage Story, there are more than a few awkward moments when it’s clear that he’s a victim of the bitterness between his parents.
A lot has been made about whether or not Noah Baumbach puts more blame on Nicole or Charlie as to why their marriage has fallen apart. This is Baumbach’s story, pulled directly from his own failed marriage with actress Jennifer Jason Leigh so it would make sense if he put more blame on Nicole’s part. Some viewers may see this differently, but I thought Baumbach did a great job of showing that this wasn’t one person’s fault. Nicole’s desire to pursue her dreams and have her voice is fair, but staying complacent and silent while building resentment didn’t help matters in her marriage. Charlie, content with the life he has made with Nicole in New York, is guilty of not paying more attention to his wife’s needs and desires and assuming that all his dreams were hers. These were the start of their problems, and it only progressed to where we meet them as we enter the film. The issues between the two come to a head during a very heated and powerfully acted scene that has both parties ripping into each other as they exclaim, with unfiltered honesty, why they think they’re in the position they’re in now. Baumbach isn’t choosing sides here. He knows it takes two to tango, and any indication that he’s putting more blame on Nicole is entirely unfounded.
Marriage Story is an actor’s movie, and it mostly succeeds because of the two lead performances of Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. This is the best performance of Johansson’s career, who already has a solid filmography of stellar performances. She conveys every nuance of a character who loves the man she’s leaving but can no longer be trapped in a situation that stifles her. Adam Driver is getting more attention than Johansson for his role; although she is picking up nominations as well, I think she outdoes him ever so slightly in the film. That’s not to say that Adam Driver is a slouch because this is yet another performance that shows off his range as an actor. He’s believable as a controlling narcissist who sees himself as a victim but also sympathetic as someone who feels like he’s losing it all. Both performers make it easy to root for them, and neither comes off as a villain. That’s an example of solid writing but also performers who are locked into their roles. In the most major supporting character, Laura Dern is intensely believable as a no-holds-barred attorney hell-bent on winning. Some might question all the supporting actress awards attention she is getting, but all I know is that she commands every scene she’s in and makes the most out of her relatively minor role.
Marriage Story works because its emotions and themes are universal. Some might see a disconnect due to the backgrounds of the characters or how Baumbach writes them, but even through all of that, he never loses sight of the rawness of the material. I came out of Marriage Story emotionally exhausted, and, for me, that means the film did its job.
