Film of Month - Marriage Story

Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, this slow emotional drama is my August Film. Starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johnson, this film is about a play director and his actor wife struggling through their intense divorce as well as their complicated feelings for each other .

I thought it was really interesting and though provoking that Baumbach, through the writing, performance and filming, created a division between men and women and the struggles and sexist challenges both sexes had to face. For example, throughout the film, the audience is made to feel more sympathetic to the father as it seems he is more financially and emotionally effected by the divorce process by isolating the character. But at the same time, Baumbach doesn't want the audience to side with one character as in reality, divorce, usually is not totally one person's fault so through meetings with the wife and her lawyer, we understand the wife's feelings and also the challenges of being a women in a divorce case. For example, her lawyer (Laura Dern) insists on the wife to not mention any personal faults as the law ca accept a faulty father but not a mother, 'We love them for their fallibilities, but people absolutely don't accept those same failings in mothers. We don't accept it structurally and we don't accept it spiritually. Because the basis of our Judeo-Christian whatever is Mary, Mother of Jesus, and she's perfect.'. This quote is very powerful and encourages discussion about the law and how it treats both the man and the women, especially if they are parents. It is also a good example of Baumbach's effect of his characters, there is no 'good side' or 'bad side' but each character has their own faults but also their positive attributes, Here, the lawyer seems to be stern, harsh and in a way a causation of some of the couple's troubles but we see that some of her coldness comes from being a female lawyer against a male dominated courtroom, she herself has to work harder and come to terms with the sexism in the law.

The writing and performance of the actors is brilliant and I have to say I did sob a little bit because of the complicated feelings and relationship of this couple but also their individual battles, as well as the almost invisible effect it has on their young child.

It is also a very crisp, clear film with interesting colour palettes. The beautiful clear aesthetic of the film comes from not only the gorgeous 35mm film but also from the work of cinematographer, Robbie Ryan. This film overall is filmed quite staticky which makes the audience focus more not the content and feeling of the words and sounds from characters and the setting but when there is movement, which is rare in this film, it’s motivated by the movement of the characters. The changeable colour palette of New York to LA is interesting, New York being a dark grey, cold feel and LA having a much warmer and reddish palette and filter to it.

Overall, this film, is very much my taste as its slow and not a lot of action and focuses on the performance of the actors as well as the aesthetic of the film. I recommend this film to everyone but especially those who enjoy more emotional films that are not cringy emotional films, but also not super deep. It is a nice mix of dark comedy as well as intense feelings that come through the actors' performances and the writing. Hope everyone is enjoying school now!!! Try to watch films as much as you can :)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHi-a1n8t7M Available on Netflix