*My review of Marriage Story was originally published on Film Inquiry. Click here to read the original post and check out more great reviews from this awesome site!*
The first—and very best—movie I saw at this year’s Film Fest 919, Noah Baumbach‘s Marriage Story is such an extraordinary achievement that it’s difficult to know exactly how to approach it. An intimate tale of a relationship’s collapse that also contains tear-jerking flashes of grandeur and sentimentality, Marriage Story runs the emotional gamut with ease and dramatic clarity. It’s a remarkably even-handed portrayal of the messiness of divorce; each new scene brings about a new hero or villain in the story, to the point that, eventually, there are no heroes or villains at all. Guided by the magnificent performances of Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and the entire supporting crew, Baumbach‘s latest is the kind of raw experience that I crave each fall season. It hasn’t left me since the moment the credits rolled.
Driver and Johansson star as Charlie and Nicole, a couple who recently decided to call it quits. Charlie is a wunderkind director of theater; Nicole is his muse, who gave up a potentially lucrative Hollywood career to launch a theater company with her husband. When the film begins, we’re treated to a montage of all the things they love about each other: the quirks, the habits, the shortcomings, and the complexities that define who they are. Set to Randy Newman‘s whimsical, melancholic musical score (maybe it’s my lingering childhood attachment to the Toy Story franchise, but his music is a guaranteed path to opening my tear ducts), this is a marvelous opening, rivaling the extraordinary montage in Pete Docter‘s Up in terms of sheer immediate emotional impact.
Naturally, this tranquility does not last. Charlie and Nicole initially agree to do a divorce without the presence or assistance of lawyers, fearing that it’ll divide their interests and pit them against each other at a time when their young son (Azhy Robertson) needs them. However, Nicole is convinced by a colleague to lawyer up for her impending showdown with her ex-husband, turning to high-profile divorce lawyer Nora (Laura Dern), who convinces Nicole that she’ll be on her side for good. Charlie, flabbergasted by this sudden departure from their plan, recruits the kindly Bert Spitz (Alan Alda) to do his bidding; unfortunately for him, Bert is basically the opposite of Nora when it comes to legal instincts.
As the conflict intensifies—Charlie eventually turns to Jay, a cutthroat lawyer played by Ray Liotta—Marriage Story becomes a film about the inhumanity of the legal system. Two people who seemed to be on a path toward an amicable split are now at each other’s throats, bogged down in legalese and technicalities that could drive any reasonable person insane. The ever-increasing tension of the film culminates in a blow-out set piece in which Charlie and Nicole finally unleash hell on one another; a standard argument becomes the foundation for a nightmarish and venomous airing of grievances. It’s horrifying, but it’s also sort of exhilarating to see two actors working at the peak of their abilities in such a sustained manner.
And, like many scenes in Marriage Story, the climatic verbal war ends in a stunning rush of catharsis. Even if Baumbach‘s saga is grueling and sometimes cynically hilarious, it’s also a warm and emotionally open film, as concerned with familial reconciliation as it is with the deterioration that forms its center. The key to it all is Driver, delivering the best performance of his career—and, quite frankly, of the year so far. It’s easy to see where his character goes wrong, but it’s also heartbreaking to watch him try so hard to keep it all together—as a father, as a partner, and as a human being. Those rare moments in which he cracks under the pressure are some of the most emotionally raw and honest you’ll see all year; they’re the most memorable touchstones of a near-masterwork.
THE FINAL GRADE: A+ (10/10)
The first—and very best—movie I saw at this year’s Film Fest 919, Noah Baumbach‘s Marriage Story is such an extraordinary achievement that it’s difficult to know exactly how to approach it. An intimate tale of a relationship’s collapse that also contains tear-jerking flashes of grandeur and sentimentality, Marriage Story runs the emotional gamut with ease and dramatic clarity. It’s a remarkably even-handed portrayal of the messiness of divorce; each new scene brings about a new hero or villain in the story, to the point that, eventually, there are no heroes or villains at all. Guided by the magnificent performances of Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and the entire supporting crew, Baumbach‘s latest is the kind of raw experience that I crave each fall season. It hasn’t left me since the moment the credits rolled.
Driver and Johansson star as Charlie and Nicole, a couple who recently decided to call it quits. Charlie is a wunderkind director of theater; Nicole is his muse, who gave up a potentially lucrative Hollywood career to launch a theater company with her husband. When the film begins, we’re treated to a montage of all the things they love about each other: the quirks, the habits, the shortcomings, and the complexities that define who they are. Set to Randy Newman‘s whimsical, melancholic musical score (maybe it’s my lingering childhood attachment to the Toy Story franchise, but his music is a guaranteed path to opening my tear ducts), this is a marvelous opening, rivaling the extraordinary montage in Pete Docter‘s Up in terms of sheer immediate emotional impact.
Naturally, this tranquility does not last. Charlie and Nicole initially agree to do a divorce without the presence or assistance of lawyers, fearing that it’ll divide their interests and pit them against each other at a time when their young son (Azhy Robertson) needs them. However, Nicole is convinced by a colleague to lawyer up for her impending showdown with her ex-husband, turning to high-profile divorce lawyer Nora (Laura Dern), who convinces Nicole that she’ll be on her side for good. Charlie, flabbergasted by this sudden departure from their plan, recruits the kindly Bert Spitz (Alan Alda) to do his bidding; unfortunately for him, Bert is basically the opposite of Nora when it comes to legal instincts.
As the conflict intensifies—Charlie eventually turns to Jay, a cutthroat lawyer played by Ray Liotta—Marriage Story becomes a film about the inhumanity of the legal system. Two people who seemed to be on a path toward an amicable split are now at each other’s throats, bogged down in legalese and technicalities that could drive any reasonable person insane. The ever-increasing tension of the film culminates in a blow-out set piece in which Charlie and Nicole finally unleash hell on one another; a standard argument becomes the foundation for a nightmarish and venomous airing of grievances. It’s horrifying, but it’s also sort of exhilarating to see two actors working at the peak of their abilities in such a sustained manner.
And, like many scenes in Marriage Story, the climatic verbal war ends in a stunning rush of catharsis. Even if Baumbach‘s saga is grueling and sometimes cynically hilarious, it’s also a warm and emotionally open film, as concerned with familial reconciliation as it is with the deterioration that forms its center. The key to it all is Driver, delivering the best performance of his career—and, quite frankly, of the year so far. It’s easy to see where his character goes wrong, but it’s also heartbreaking to watch him try so hard to keep it all together—as a father, as a partner, and as a human being. Those rare moments in which he cracks under the pressure are some of the most emotionally raw and honest you’ll see all year; they’re the most memorable touchstones of a near-masterwork.
THE FINAL GRADE: A+ (10/10)
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