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Marriage Story

25 replies

catwithflowers · 06/12/2019 15:12

Saw this yesterday in the cinema (although it has been released today on Netflix) and thought it was brilliant. Superb performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver with surely an award or two in the offing.

Anyone else seen it yet?

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LittleLebowski · 06/12/2019 17:15

No, this weekend's treat! The reviews have been amazing and I really like Adam Driver. Haven't watched the Irishman yet either - the 3 hour + length is putting me off.

billydilly · 06/12/2019 22:37

Wonderful. Fantastic performances, particularly Adam Driver and Laura Dern. It manages to stay just the right side of sentimentality, the scene with the Sondheim song really got me. Five stars.

LittleLebowski · 07/12/2019 17:27

Really enjoyed it too! Excellent performances - yeah Laura Dern fabulous, took me a while to recognise Ray Liotta! Brilliant script with plenty of funny moments. It wasn't judgemental - though didn't put the lawyers in a good light. I have seen Fantastic Mr Fox (which I didn't like) and really enjoyed While we're young I think it was called with Ben Stiller + also Adam Driver. Anyway great film.

VanyaHargreeves · 07/12/2019 23:44

I am watching this now and I am finding it heavily biased in favour of Charlie's POV and as usual making the woman the bitch.

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catwithflowers · 08/12/2019 17:51

That’s interesting Vanya. I started off seeing it like that but by the end I just felt so sorry for them both. I think when Nicole discovers Charlie's affair with his work colleague, the audience loses quite a bit of sympathy for him.

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billydilly · 08/12/2019 20:57

I felt that Driver's character was none to subtly controlling, the wife's (brilliantly acted) long speech to the divorce lawyer spelled out how erased she had felt in the marriage.

EstebanTheMagnificent · 08/12/2019 21:46

Just finished it and absolutely loved it. Superb performances, especially from Adam Driver. I don’t agree that it was significantly more sympathetic to Charlie. I found it very balanced.

VanyaHargreeves · 08/12/2019 21:55

I mean stuff like :

He goes to find a lawyer only she's snookered him at every turn

He'd made plans for Halloween and then had to drive round and it was shit because she'd ruined it

She's tricked him and lied about them being an LA based family, making sure all the boxes were ticked before serving him.

I do think we see it from a male angle, and that her speech to the lawyer is the only moment we really get to see her side

EstebanTheMagnificent · 08/12/2019 22:45

That's interesting, @VanyaHargreeves. I interpreted a lot of those events as indications that he had consistently underestimated her throughout their marriage.

LittleLebowski · 08/12/2019 23:53

It's a very personal film as Noah Baumbach left Jennifer Jason Leigh and shacked up very soon after was with Greta Gerwig in dubious circumstances. There are apparently plenty of parallels between Noah+Jennifer / Charlie + Nicole. I found it balanced though overall too. As you say Esteban, it was clear that Charlie had constantly dominated and over-ridden Nicole throughout the marriage - articulated very well by the lawyer "when it's what Nicole wants, it's a discussion, when it's what you want, it's a decision" or words to that effect. Even at the end, Charlie assumes Nicole had won an award for acting, not directing, again underestimating her. I like how it was him reading her words at the end when she's spent the entire relationship reading his lines. I thought it all came nicely full circle, but for me, Charlie was shown to have had to learn the most. The bits you mention Vanya, I thought it was more a reflection of how lawyers make it all worse, pushing for 55/45 custody or whatever just so he didn't think he'd won. Wasn't it that they could have worked it out better by themselves?

VanyaHargreeves · 09/12/2019 00:57

I didn't know that and thats again so interesting because Greta Gerwig was involved in a film about cheating with an artsy husband and then regretting it.

I still stand by what my takeaway was but on considering what you had to say, I got pulled back to a really horrible scene which is right at the start of the film.

She has quit his play, and even though it's irrelevant he still gives her performance critique and she privately cries.

She asked him to, but his lack of emotional intelligence in that moment, were he asserts superiority, and that she is someone to be instructed...

I'd have left him as well

I do still think he gets to have more "you bitch" moments than her "you bastard" ones but on reflection that is one of the best scenes.

BitOfFun · 09/12/2019 01:23

I watched it last night- really good quality film making. It felt like a modern take on Kramer Vs. Kramer. I thought Adam Driver's performance was sublime.

dameofdilemma · 12/12/2019 21:48

Fantastic movie and probably the best thing SJ has ever done.

I found it quite balanced, didn’t find myself blaming either or siding with either.
Found the scenes around Charlie desperately trying to reconnect with his son heartbreaking. The way his relationship with his son was beginning to be eroded and he was edged out.

It felt an honest description of a break up between two decent people trying to do their best and trying to be good parents.
But it’s the son who you feel for most, bewildered in the middle of it all.

GruffaIoChrimbo · 14/12/2019 07:23

I would like to see Laura Dern and Alan Alda nominated come awards season. Dern stole every scene she was in. The Virgin Mary monologue was award worthy on its own.
The scene where Johannsen and Driver argue and it gets really vitriolic was so real, beautifully acted.
The scene with the knife was - wtf is that professional doing not taking him to A+E
Above all all I could think was what a waste of Henry's college fund.

IHaveBrilloHair · 15/12/2019 16:57

I've got it on my list, really looking forward to it.

clearingaspaceforthecat · 20/12/2019 21:59

Adam Driver was brilliant. And that argument left me breathless. Painful at times, but excellent.

GruffaIoChrimbo · 20/12/2019 23:12

It was good clearing wasn't it? I read some critic saying that part was theatrical but, having been in a toxic relationship once where we would both wrongly use anything - and I mean anything - to hurt the other, that row really hit home for me. I think if you've had that kind of row yourself where all bets are off and you are both just aiming low, then you'll relate to it - otherwise for others, it might not ring true lucky them

FenellaVelour · 02/01/2020 17:58

The scene with the knife was - wtf is that professional doing not taking him to A+E

I’d say wtf was the professional doing, full stop - bizarre behaviour all round!

Thought this was a simply superb film because of the sheer quality of the acting across virtually the entire cast. Best thing SJ has done and AD is now on my list of actors I’ll watch in anything.

Tonkerbea · 05/01/2020 18:15

Loved it.

It's easy to miss, but in the trailer after her make up test, SJ says to the producer who recommends Laura Dern, that she's seen a load of lawyers with her sister but couldn't find one she liked.

So I don't think it's weighted in favour of Charlie.

Loved the scene with SJ, her mother and sister before the papers were served.

The Virgin Mary monologue was incredible, mothers ARE held to an impossibly high standard.

breakfastpizza · 06/01/2020 17:47

The acting really drove it for me. It would have been an intense stage play (ironically!).

I did think it was biased in favour of the bumbling male perspective. He didn't think that fucking his AD (or stage manager, or whatever) would wreck his marriage? He didn't know that prioritising his career over hers might cause resentment? He was called out for it, and he paid for it, but I felt like we were pushed to still feel sympathy for him when it wasn't deserved.

I watched it on a plane and I'm glad I did, as it needs your full attention.

breakfastpizza · 06/01/2020 17:47

And Laura Dern can represent me in any future court case, no legal training needed.

Mooserp · 10/01/2020 16:58

I thought it was ok, but nothing special. I know she was playing an actor, but SJ always seemed to be 'performing' to me, particularly her long speech when she first meets LD - it felt like she was auditioning for a part.

I didn't really like or care about either character, which didn't help.

Laura Dern was very good.

EachandEveryone · 25/01/2020 10:56

Ive just watched it. Its alright. Felt like a Woody Allen rip off if Im honest.

EachandEveryone · 25/01/2020 10:57

Oh and Laura Dern plays the exact same part in Big Little Lies so it was hardly a stretch for her.

Girlonatubetrain2 · 25/01/2020 11:08

I thought it was really good.
The bitter argument where they both just blurted poison was scarily on point and left me reeling

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