‘Marriage Story‘ directed by Noah Baumbach has been compared by many people to ‘Kramer Vs. Kramer ‘and I can’t help suspecting that this comparison was encouraged by or even originated in the PR machine of the film’s producers. There are indeed many similar traits: both films belong to the genre of ‘divorce films’ and have as protagonists couples who have serious reasons to break up but also maintain strong emotional bonds; in both stories there is a child at an age at which the separation of parents cannot remain without the sequels who becomes the main subject of the custody dispute and divorce settlement; lawyers play an important role in deepening the conflicts; in the lead roles in the two films appear well-known and highly talented actors who combine their magnetism (of attraction and rejection), managing to create difficult-to-forget broken couples on screens. It remains to be seen if this recipe will work with the same success at the 40-year interval that separates the release of the two films. Matching the five Academy Awards collected by ‘Kramer Vs. Kramer‘ is a challenge.
What has changed in the dynamics of divorce and the attitude of society in the 40 years that separate the two films? Charlie and Nicole, the divorced of 2019, could ultimately retain their affection and share the responsibility of child custody without lawyers or the institution of marriage, but eventually the social pressure brings them in the situation of the classic couples in legal conflict. As in the 1979 film, it is the wife who initiates the divorce, but the world has changed and the reasons have changed. Joana Kramer (Meryl Streep) was leaving Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) because he was too busy with his professional life and neglected his father and family duties. Charlie from ‘Marriage Story’ (Adam Driver) is an almost perfect husband and father, but the marriage suffocates Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) whose career as an actress stagnates in the shadow of the talented theater director who is her husband. The characters in Noah Baumbach‘s film are equal in professional aspirations, and in the affection that continues beyond the legal conflict and the legal separation, and also in the responsibility of the breaking up of the marriage. In fact, maybe they should never have married, that seems to be one of the possible lessons of the movie.
I am convinced that there are many different interpretations and opinions, and that ‘Marriage Story‘ is currently being discussed in many families, circles of friends, social networks. One of the merits of the film is that the situation presented on screen and the rich and complex characters of the two main heroes open the appetite for such discussions. The acting performance of the two is exceptional. Scarlett Johansson plays one of the best roles of her career – she is assertive and vulnerable, ambitious and skeptical of doubts, a devoted but catchy mother, and an actress who does not give up her dream of success and achievement on screen. I know Adam Driver less, I have seen him in ‘Star Wars’, here he shows that he can play excellent and earthly roles. Some sequences suffer from excessive verbosity, but the actors manage to execute them with great vigor. I saw with great pleasure also Laura Dern and Ray Liotta, in the roles of lawyers of both parties, secondary but also key roles in the development of the story, both acting with aplomb and with a well-dosed sarcastic criticism. I was less excited about the insertion of the musical sequences towards the end, they do not fit well with the rest of the movie, they are too little for a musical and useless for a family drama. Despite less successful parts and ideas, ‘Marriage Story‘ – which might have been called ‘Divorce Story’ as well – manages to captivate because of the topic and of the remarkable acting performances.