TIFF 2019: MARRIAGE STORY: An Emotionally Affecting Story About Love & Loss

Noah Baumbach is a director who has a knack for examining the human condition. Whether it’s an impressionable young man dealing with his family’s split, such as in The Squid and the Whale, or an aspiring dancer attempting to make it in the world, such as Frances Ha, or, more recently, a family man attempting to deal with his selfish, aging father in The Meyerowitz Stories.

Some of these are arguably more impactful than others, and will appeal to different people. Yet, I always preferred his more personal, intimate stories such as Frances Ha. It’s these that perhaps relate most directly to Marriage Story. Though the film deals with a couple above the means of your average Joe, with one of them being a theater director and the other an actress, it is nonetheless a humanistic and relatable story.

Love and Divorce

Marriage Story begins with side-by-side voiceovers by two spouses, each describing what they love about the other. They are Charlie (Adam Driver), a theater director in New York City, and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), an actress who gave up a life in Los Angeles to work and live alongside Charlie. In brief snippets, the two walk us through the various qualities that they love about the other, including the traits that annoy them, just slightly. With a bouncy, light theme by none other than Randy Newman, it’s a bright, yet somewhat deceiving manner of starting the film. It’s one of many seemingly contradictory aspects that balance out the story Baumbach is telling.

From here, we see that the two are actually about to split up. Though seemingly happy for many years together, and with mutual affection for their son Henry (Azhy Robertson), they also seem to have grown separately, and it appears that their lack of communication has led them to where they are. Nicole takes a job in Los Angeles working in the pilot for a TV show, while Charlie stays in NYC to prepare for his play, which will soon premiere on Broadway. But their struggles are only about to begin.

Marriage Story is partially based on Baumbach‘s real experiences when he got divorced from Jennifer Jason Leigh. He also reportedly did ample research in preparation, asking judges and lawyers about the process and close friends. From watching the film, and personally seeing it happen to people in real life, it really does show. As mentioned, the people involved might be higher on the financial food chain than most of us, but Baumbach manages to keep the entire process level-headed as well, making it relatable to anyone who has gone through the same, even if it’s not typically on a coast-to-coast basis as it is here.

Even more than the authenticity, though, he manages to make long-winded discussions about the machinations of the divorce itself, taking place in courtrooms and lawyer’s offices, far from dull. Of course, this is helped immensely by the talented actors populating these various roles: including Laura Dern as the divorce lawyer for Nicole, who at one point even manages to slightly channel Renata, her takes-no-crap character from Big Little Lies. Veteran actor Alan Alda, who hasn’t lost a beat, also stars as one of the lawyers for Charlie, as does Ray Liotta.

Driver and Johansson are Incredible

Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are reason enough alone to rave about Marriage Story. The two, whose body of work includes a wide spectrum of cinema, might still be best known to the general audience for their roles in blockbusters of the last few years, such as Star Wars for Driver and the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Johansson. Yet here, they prove why they deserve to be household names in the first place.

Driver‘s Charlie is sensitive yet oblivious, not realizing that his need to take charge has gotten in the way of seeing what Nicole really wanted out of her career, and likewise, their relationship. While Johansson‘s Nicole is ambitious but sometimes too accommodating, hoping, to no avail, that her husband would see her as an equal.

Part of the reason that Baumbach‘s films sometimes turn me off is because his characters act in a way that only the most pretentious people do; for example, Jeff Daniels‘ character in The Squid and the Whale or Dustin Hoffman in The Meyerowitz Stories. Yet here, Charlie and Nicole feel more just like real people engaged in real situations, even if the drama is amped up. Baumbach also gives them each individual moments to shine, such as in a beautifully tragic monologue by Johansson describing Nicole and Charlie’s relationship, or in some tender moments with Driver spending time with his son, or even an unexpectedly funny bit of physical comedy later on.

Together, they traverse through all the rises and falls of any couple recovering from a lost romance; there’s still remnants of love there, to be sure, but there’s also a sense of resentment, and it comes out at inopportune moments. This all comes to a head during one of the film’s most gripping scenes, a back-and-forth confrontation between the two that has all the manic energy of an action battle, as their voices and body language heat up to an intense degree. It’s amongst the best scenes of the year.

The Effects of Divorce

Above everything, Marriage Story shows just how devastating the process of divorce can be, and how it can twist apart even the best of us, forcing us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. It can be seen at moments throughout the film, such as during the aggressiveness seen between Charlie and Nicole at court, followed by them being much more amicable to each other afterwards. We may hate ourselves for it, but we also try to fight for what we want to get out of a lost relationship, in this case the major focus being on their son Henry.

It’s hard not to feel for the character of Henry in this film, who comes to represent all those poor kids who unknowingly get caught up in the middle of the fights between their parents. Yet, he just wants to be a kid, and he’s captured well by the young Robertson in the role. Marriage Story may be devastating at times, but it’s hard not to see it as a blindingly realistic portrayal of an institution that can take away everything from us.

Conclusion: Marriage Story

To conclude, Marriage Story is amongst Baumbach‘s finest works. Sympathetic, charming, and above-all relatable, it also contains some impressive, career-best acting by Driver and Johansson. It should seal Baumbach as one of the finest humanistic directors working today.

What are your thoughts on Marriage Story? Are you a fan of Noah Baumbach’s films?

Watch Marriage Story