Marriage Story

The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday and I have seen all of the nominees for Best Picture (click on the titles for my commentaries on Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood, Parasite, Little Women, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Ford v Ferrari, and 1917) except two of them and, luckily, both of are currently streaming on Netflix.  Since I always like to see all of the nominees, I decided to watch Marriage Story last night and I thought it was a thoughtful exploration of a relationship that has disintegrated with incredible performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.  Charlie (Driver) is a brilliant theatre director in New York City and his wife Nicole (Johansson) is a former Hollywood star who relocated to New York to be with him and star in his productions.  At first she was the main draw for the fledgling theatre company but now he has become the toast of the town and she is feeling more and more insignificant.  When Nicole is offered a pilot for a TV show in Los Angeles she decides to take it and wants them to move there with their eight-year-old son Henry (Azhy Robertson).  Charlie wants the family to stay in New York and this exacerbates all of the underlying problems within the marriage.  They initially agree to handle the divorce themselves in an amicable manner but Nicole is advised by a producer on her show to hire Nora Fanshaw (Laura Dern) which causes Charlie to hire Jay Marotta (Ray Liotta) in retaliation and it quickly becomes acrimonious.  When things spiral out of control the two of them try to work it out themselves leading to an incredibly visceral confrontation.  What is extraordinary about this movie is that both characters are highly sympathetic.  Nicole just wants to have a voice again after years of being taken for granted and Charlie feels blindsided by Nicole's decision and doesn't want to lose his son.  They are both inherently decent people (as evidenced in the opening voice-over where they talk about what they love about each other) who end up doing terrible things in the name of winning and their journey to redemption is very compelling.  Johansson is as vulnerable as I have ever seen her, particularly when she talks about meeting Charlie for the first time, and Dern gives another fantastic performance, especially in a speech about the double standard for mothers.  However, I was blown away by Driver (I hope he wins Best Actor).  He is brilliant when he sings "Being Alive" in a piano bar after signing the divorce papers but he is also so heartbreaking in the quieter moments, such as when he sees that his pictures have been removed from his mother-in-law's house and when he reads Nicole's letter.  This is a movie that will make you laugh and cry and I highly recommend it.

Note:  My review of The Irishman (also streaming on Netflix) is coming tomorrow.