Divorce, the end rather than the start of a marriage, serves as the beginning of Noah Baumbach’s newest film Marriage Story. The Academy Award nominated film follows a couple trying to navigate the legal, messy, and emotional aspects of separation while trying to balance their individual careers, and their young child between two coasts.
The film’s opening montage is packed with memories of the family that play out like an old home movie. These visual slivers of nostalgia are accompanied by Scarlett Johansen and Adam Driver’s individual narrations of letters, written about what they love most about each other. Charlie and Nicole fell in love while working together on stage in New York City. Charlie and Nicole live in a picturesque apartment where they tease and play games with their child. It seemed that Charlie and Nicole were the perfect team, both off the stage as parents and on as artists. But the familiar feeling of nostalgia and warmth that builds up in the first ten minutes of the movie is abruptly interrupted by the two sitting in front of a marriage counselor. Brought back down to reality, this is where the bulk of Marriage Story begins.
Throughout the film, neither parent or character is made out to be the main villain, but instead the individual wants and needs of both Charlie and Nicole are revealed and understood. It is the excruciatingly long and painful divorce process that is made out to be the true evil. Audiences can find themselves sympathizing with both Driver and Johanson’s characters. It is Nicole’s yearning to direct something of her own, away from Charlie’s spotlight, and to create a life for herself that reminds us that we need to prioritize ourselves. She is comforted and heard by her intelligent and confident divorce lawyer played by Laura Dern, whose poignantly delivered feminist speech accuses God as “the father who didn’t show up” for Mary. Conversely, audiences can feel Charlie’s world falling apart— from being torn between working on his Broadway debut and spending time with his son. New York and Los Angeles are the disputed coasts, with Charlie insisting his family was based in the east and Nicole wanting to start over in the Golden State.
Yet against this serious backdrop of divorce, jokes about Los Angeles, awkward and accidental injuries, as well as musical numbers add a light-hearted energy to the film— perhaps emphasizing the liberation that will come from the divorce, despite the pain caused by the process. As seen in his previous films Frances Ha and Margot at the Wedding, director Noah Baumbach’s witty yet heart wrenching dialogue paired with a carefully decided color palette join together to form a powerful work of art. Marriage Story’s warm muted colors match the tone of a fading relationship and capture the lifelessness that the divorce process can draw out of its victims. Bombach successfully depicts the world surrounding divorce, and how it can grow larger, uglier and more complex than the two individuals it begins with. Three Los Angeles divorce lawyers who couldn’t have been more different reflect the ugly and inhumane side of divorce— all trying to get their clients the most for them at the other’s expense. Despite these legal distortions, the two try to remain as cordial and friendly as possible for their son, although this is broken by one explosive fight scene midway through the film that displays Johanson and Driver’s exceptional acting talents. Taking place in an empty apartment, Charlie and Nicole’s words color the space, their words combatting each other, progressively getting louder and more violent they collapse into each other, worn out from emotion and tension. The pent up raw emotion that suddenly explodes is from more than just the divorce process, but from years of misunderstanding, neglect and hurt from both parties.
In the end Marriage Story does come out the other side, literally, in Los Angeles but also for Charlie, Nicole and their son. Nicole’s dreams of independence are finally taking off, and Charlie is able focus on his own work. The film ends with the same, indirect love letters being read, reminding the couple of the love they will always share despite their new beginnings.
