Broken together and bound apart: The story of a marriage
Long Form Review
Marriage Story introduces its leads through the eyes of their spouses. Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) is shown as the compassionate, disorderly, loving wife and mother. Charlie (Adam Driver) is shown as the creative, independent, self-made man who is a caring father. For the few moments that these narrations last, the film feels like a candy flossed romance, only to be jerked into the reality of a divorce-mediator’s cold, impersonal office, in a scene stripped of background music, cast into utter silence.
Charlie is a renowned New York theatre director and Nicole, his lead actress. As they decide to separate, Nicole receives an opportunity to star in the pilot of an LA-based series. She takes their son, Henry (Azhy Robertson) and moves to California. She meets Nora (Laura Dern), the fierce divorce attorney who helps Nicole file for divorce. Charlie is forced to fight the divorce settlement in LA despite their being a New York family. Conflict arises when Nicole wants to stay in LA permanently, making it difficult for Charlie to meet Henry regularly. The custody of their son becomes the tipping point, leading them on a journey of solitary reflections and turbulent confrontations.
Marriage story plays the contrast of duality masterfully. By providing ample exposition of each protagonist’s point of view, it forces the audience to stand in both their shoes within a matter of a few minutes. We completely empathize with Nicole, when she expresses the crisis of identity she finds herself in, during her monologue at Nora’s office. We understand her resentment and rage. As we make peace with the stand we have taken, we are challenged to disengage with her and are then compelled to empathize with Charlie’s situation. We feel that it is unfair that he is left unaware of the happenings, having to play catch-up all alone in an unknown city.
Choosing to unfold the story in LA, the director (Noah Baumbach) again manages to reinforce the presence of duality. While New York is Charlie’s world in which Nicole feels lost, LA represents Nicole’s world, where every road, prop, and character defeats Charlie.
This duality of worlds is further enhanced by cinematography, production design and blocking. In multiple scenes, the frame captures Nicole’s and Charlie’s profiles. Alternatively focusing and defocusing on each, the camera produces a physical embodiment of the argument between them. The walls and gates that seem to separate both keep appearing in many instances.
The story world further divides itself, as characters seem like externalizations of both the protagonists. Nora becomes Nicole’s aggressive alter-ego whose voice she never paid attention to before. The mellow Bert (Alan Alda), Charlie’s first lawyer, is a depiction of his initial state-of-mind. Entry of the more vicious Jay (Ray Liotta) as the lawyer signals revelation of Charlie’s own rage and anger. As the movie progresses, the audience become acutely aware of the growing wedge between these two people and their worlds.
The script adeptly manages to create a sneaky pattern of dialogue and action, lending a stronger voice to Nicole despite majorly covering Charlie’s journey. Her every vexation materializes into a reality whenever both find themselves together.
By attempting to present these worlds simultaneously and almost equally, marriage story poignantly tells the story of two individuals, fractionated in their union and bound in their separation. Noah Baumback’s precise maneuvering of the cinematic language, to drive home a sweet love story shrouded deep in the bitterness of a failed marriage, takes the audience on an emotional roller-coaster ride of hope, warmth, pain and acceptance.
Nuanced performances by Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver make Nicole and Charlie vulnerable and real. They are supported by Laura Dern’s powerful portrayal of Nora. The background score by Randy Newman asserts the power of its presence through the scenes where it is absent. With every watch, the film tends to gleefully whisper some new secret we missed witnessing previously.