Marriage Story - Review: A Quiet, Riveting Story Carried by the Leads

Marriage Story - Review: A Quiet, Riveting Story Carried by the Leads

Release date (US): August 29th, 2019

Starring: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern

**DISCLAIMER**: This is a subjective, opinionated article that does not have, nor should have any effect on your opinion. As such, my opinion is entitled to change over time and whatever is written here at this point in time may not and should not be held to me in the future. You are not meant to agree with me 100 percent of the time, because the nature of subjectivity is we see everything differently. If there is something you happen to disagree with, I absolutely respect your point of view if you will respect mine. Please keep this in mind. 

The Review

Netflix has made quite the showing these past couple of years. With films such as Roma getting serious awards considerations, 2019 seemed primed to further Netflix's exploration into high caliber filmmaking. With the release of a film like The Irishman, which automatically looked to be a frontrunner for Oscars, the possibilities were endless. 

And yet, something peculiar happened. In August of 2019, a small film directed by Noah Baumbach dropped. It was called Marriage Story, and it starred two of the biggest actors in the world with Adam Driver (of Star Wars fame) and Scarlett Johansson (of Marvel fame). But this wasn't a flashy film. In fact, it fell completely under the radar for quite some time because many did not know it even existed until it was released. Slowly, it gained traction, until suddenly, it too stood tall with the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese. 

Marriage Story is a film that feels incredibly real. When people describe cinema as an immersive art form, this is truly one of the best examples. Certain types of films, such as 1917, need to be seen in a movie theater in order to fully capture the immersive nature of the film. But a film like Marriage Story relies completely on the characters and lead performances to drive the movie forward.

The film centers around an ex-husband and wife, Charlie and Nicole, played by the aforementioned Driver and Johansson. Throughout the film, as layers are unraveled, you begin to see exactly why their marriage fell apart and how each side is dealing with such a horrible event. In addition, their young son, Henry, is caught in the middle and while the film doesn't spend an exorbitant amount of time with him, his presence is always felt, especially by his parents.

Without hyperbole, I can say that these two leads give the best performances out of any actors I have seen, at least in a long time. Despite all the buzz that Joaquin Phoenix is receiving for his turn as Joker, Adam Driver crushes him with a grueling, real, gritty performance. Every look on his face, every line of dialogue is resolute and has purpose and emotion that carries so much depth beyond what is simply spoken. The scenes that require incredible emotion are executed immaculately. Johansson, for her part, is able to stand equal to Driver throughout the whole movie. I would wager to say that the movie, while split fairly evenly between the two, focuses more on Driver's character. Thus, Johansson's relatively mild performance compared to Driver has nothing to do with her acting, but more to do with her screentime. Nonetheless, she is able to match Driver line for line, scene for scene in what will undoubtedly be a career-defining performance. 

While I usually don't commend films for their set designs, I will say that the atmosphere that is created through setting in film is so critical and so well executed. Baumbach does everything he can to make this world feel so much like ours. This is Los Angeles. Not some fictional Los Angeles that is blown up by aliens, or a fictional New York. This is the Los Angeles where aspiring actors go to make their careers and fulfill their dreams. This is the New York where aspiring writers come to live out the Broadway life. 

And the design of the settings lends itself to the story. This story is not necessarily the strongest I've ever seen. But it's real. We as a movie-going audience are used to constant twists and turns, with the rug constantly being pulled from under us that we have become desensitized. A real divorce is not pleasant. There are a lot of legal procedures that need to be undertaken and there is a lot of hurt that accompanies it. 

What really drives this movie is the emotion that the lead characters bring out of you. There is a conventional courtroom scene. There is an argument scene. These in themselves are not interesting. But what brings them to life are Driver and Johansson. The argument scene in particular is one of the finest pieces of acting I've ever seen anyone accomplish. Driver pulls a kind of raw emotion out of himself that I have never seen before, and will seldom see again. 

Laura Dern has been receiving much awards considerations herself for her role as Johansson's attorney. Many have praised her performance, and she has been winning Golden Globes and is nominated for an Oscar. This is where I disagree. I do believe she gives a great performance, as she always does, but nothing about her character stood out to me. Really, she and the other members of the respective legal teams are background noise. They don't matter as much as the leads. Whenever they appeared, they were there out of necessity. Her character, Nora, is given very little screentime, and that's not a knock on her character, but rather a testament to the pacing. 

The other major pitfall of a movie like this is that it's incredibly hard to watch at times. As soon as the movie was over, I felt a sudden urge to never want to see this movie ever again. Perhaps someday I will. But not in the near future. It is so unbelievably hard to swallow some of the ordeals that these characters go through, and they were pounded day after day with new and harder difficulties. It is a testament to the difficulties of divorce, and how it can truly affect a person.

But there are moments of hope. Without them, the film would be dour and perhaps not nearly as good as it is. The ending is tied off with the message and the idea that perhaps everything will end up alright. Baumback intentionally leaves this open-ended for the audience to consider. But there is still a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, which wraps a dangerously melancholy film up with a nice bow. This is a piece of art that deserves praise because of its execution. The idea, though not necessarily a novel one, was near-perfect in the finished product, and Driver and Johansson's performances are a testament to that.