“Marriage Story”– Movie Review

This past week at the Centerpiece Screening of The 57th New York Film Festival, I attended the New York premiere of the new comedy-drama by Noah Baumbach, “Marriage Story”, starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. 

Synopsis

When a married couple decides to divorce, how will they handle custody of their young son when the two live on different coasts?

Story

Nicole and Charlie  (Johansson and Driver) have long seemed to be madly in love with each other.  She was a Hollywood actress whose career was on the rise when she met Charlie, a New York City based playwright-director; when they got married, she agreed to move to New York City, where they eventually had a son, Henry (Azhy Robertson).  Together, they worked on plays at his theater company while they balanced their mutual career and family life.  For a time, all seemed well.  Until it suddenly wasn’t.  Now they are mutually resolved to end their union. 

The problem, of course, is exactly how to do this.  One matter complicating things, of course is custody of Henry.  But there’s more to this.  Nicole wants to resume her acting career, which means returning to Los Angeles.  This would be a particular hardship for Charlie, since he’s pretty dug-in in New York City.  Between his own theater company and upcoming projects, it’s unclear how they would manage joint custody of Henry when the two parents are 3,000 miles apart.  Although they initially agreed upon doing this without legal representation, Nicole winds up hiring a lawyer (Laura Dern), a successful divorce attorney who knows how to get the best deal for her client.

To his credit, Charlie is reluctant to hire his own representation, but when he sees how tough Nicole’s attorney is, he winds up hiring his own lawyer (Alan Alda), who is less expensive than a superstar like Nicole’s lawyer – and also less aggressive, too.  The wear and tear of constantly travelling coast-to-coast is finally taking its toll on Charlie.  When he experiences his lawyer as ineffective, he finally relents and hires a real pit bull (Ray Liotta), who’s plenty expensive, but should be worth every penny.  Although both parents have Henry’s best interests at heart, only one parent can prevail – but which one will it be?

Review

Over the years that this blog has been doing reviews, it has been an unmitigated pleasure to watch Noah Baumbach develop as a filmmaker (examples here).  It can now be stated without equivocation that with “Marriage Story”, Baumbach has finally come into his own.    Not only is this his best work, but quite possibly, he has accomplished the impossible:  he has made the perfect motion picture.  This is one of those rare movies that fires on all cylinders all at once and successfully accomplishes the delicate balance between comedy and tragedy. 

Baumbach has written his screenplay with great care, showing that he is a keen observer not only of human behavior but also has an ear for how people speak; the dialog never has a false note.  Additionally, the shot choices he makes never have a forced quality to them; they all seem natural and organic yet clever in his way of visually telling his story.  Not to be overlooked or understated are the performances by the entire cast; if it was possible to give an ensemble award to actors, then certainly “Marriage Story” would be worth of consideration.       

The movie is not unlike life itself in that it alternates between comedy and tragedy and sometimes is both at the same time.  It is a heartbreakingly beautiful story tenderly told about how imperfect and cruel and silly people can be and yet we plug away anyway trying to be the best person we can be, despite our various shortcomings.  This is a film that will stick with you for a while because it impeccably captures the human condition.  “Marriage Story” opens in theaters in early November, then will be released on Netflix about a month later.