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Marriage Story: Divorce Legal Style

By Sandra Olmsted

   Marriage Story, which premiered in St. Louis at the St. Louis International Film Festival’s opening night, dramatizes with raw grit and emotion the dissolution of Charlie and Nicole’s (Adam Driver; Scarlett Johansson) marriage. Based on writer/director Noah Baumbach’s own divorce from actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, this honest and fair portrayal of how a couple becomes disconnected has terrific performances by Johansson and, especially, Driver. Having been proving himself a star for years, Adam Driver should earn the recognition he deserves for this emotional portrayal. Although the script and film favor Driver’s role as Charlie, who strayed from his marriage vows, Johansson’s role reveals the complexity of marriage for a wife who gives up her selfhood for love and family only to be betrayed.

   Marriage Story opens with what seems like Charlie, a Brooklyn experimental theater director, and Nicole, his company’s leading lady, complementing each other, which makes them seem like they’re a match made in heaven. The moments of platonic intimacy that Charlie and Nicole still share pose the question whether two reasonable, polite people, who have shared such intimacy and so many important milestones, can ever really part. Soon, the disagreements and conflicts in their relationship surface, and Nicole returns to her family’s LA home to star in a TV pilot that could lead to a series, taking their eight-year-old son, Henry (Azhy Robertson), with her. When Charlie comes to visit he is sincerely welcomed by Nicole’s mother, Sandra (Julie Hagerty), a former actress, greets with much love by her. Meanwhile, Nicole has asked her sister, Cassie (Merritt Wever), to hand Charlie the divorce papers, which Cassie would rather not do. Charlie has no idea he is not coming to a happy family gathering.

   Not entirely blindsided, Charlie, who still wants to believe that can politely mediate their separation, looks for a divorce attorney, only to find out the Nicole has preempted him by talking to the best ones before hiring the ultra-tough Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern). Eventually, Charlie ends up with the inept Bert Spitz (Alan Alda) before switching to Jay (Ray Liotta), an equally-tough divorce lawyer. The legal battle begins for custody and dissolution of the marital property, including the huge grant Charlie just won and the theater company, even though Nicole doesn’t want to take those away from him. Charlie just wants to spend time with Henry and to bring him to New York occasionally. Henry also has opinions about what happens, and Charlie begins to believe that Nicole manipulating Henry. Each hurt and suspicion become wedges in the relationship that Charlie and Nicole once shared.

   For Marriage Story, Baumbach draws from the cannon of divorce movies, including Kramer vs. Kramer, The War of the Roses, and Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, and finds modern emotions and meaning. The fantastic performance from the leads and all-star cast, the surprising moments of humor, and the intense moments of drama reveal the complexities of marriage, divorce, and parenthood while serving as an indictment of divorce legalities. Although perhaps not a date movie or maybe required viewing for those thinking about marrying, the fascinating and moving Marriage Story opened in St. Louis theaters on Black Friday, which seems appropriate for a drama about divorce. Marriage Story, a Netflix release, runs well-paced 136 minutes and is rated R for language throughout and sexual references.

Scarlett Johansson as Nicole and Adam Driver as Charlie share happier days in “Marriage Story.”

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