Despite the title, Marriage Story is more concerned with what can come after for many relationships, a divorce, Noah Baumbach’s film is both hilarious and tragic with two career-best performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver.

Although being personally unfamiliar with some of his other work, Noah Baumbach is a filmmaker who has always been in my sights, with the wide praise many of his films have received such as Frances Ha. If his other work meets the quality of this film, then he is someone whose films I will be catching up on.

What begins with a heart-warming opening, showing the small details in a relationship, the little things that only make sense to that couple does a perfect job at establishing our two leads. Nicole played by Scarlett Johansson, a fairly well-established actress who has been the star of a successful avantgarde play directed by her husband Charlie, played by Adam Driver.

We quickly see that the marriage is not what we see at surface level. The two performances are both given chances to be incredibly subtle while also loud and bombastic. Some scenes can go into utter hilarity thanks to some fantastic supporting cast members with the major comedic moments coming from a fantastic scene with Julie Hagerty and Merritt Wever as Nicole’s mother and sister respectively. Laura Dern is also suitably great as Nicole’s lawyer, with both Ray Liotta and Alan Alda having chances to play off against her quick and sharp dialogue.

You truly feel the history between the couple, no one character is on the wrong side, both have their flaws and are only entrapped within the vicious divorce process portrayed here. This part of the film was perhaps most surprising, a lot of the narrative is centred around the divorce process, it is essentially the driving force of the plot of the film. What stops this from becoming a court drama of sorts is once again these incredible performances. Without saying a word you see neither Charlie nor Nicole want this, but life often does. The situation is complicated.

Randy Newman provides an equally stunning soundtrack, sparsely used throughout the film but when it is used, it complements the visuals perfectly, despite sometimes sounding a tad like something from Toy Story which was the only time I recall being taken out of the film.

Marriage Story is a powerhouse of raw emotion. It is surely a hot contender this award season and is another step from Netflix into releasing a batch of quality films. It is not to be missed.

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Noah Baumbach
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Merritt Wever
Kyle Gaffney
Latest posts by Kyle Gaffney (see all)