Marriage Story

“Marriage Story follows the confusion and mounting frustrations of Charlie, while Nicole’s motivations feel largely opaque.”

Title: Marriage Story (2019)
Director: Noah Baumbach 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writer: Noah Baumbach 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸

Technical: 3.75/5

Director-writer Noah Baumbach creates a capable domestic drama in Marriage Story. The character study of a couple going through divorce elevates itself into the realm of memorability, thanks to an undercurrent of quirky humor, and if you’ve enjoyed Baumbach’s past work like Frances Ha (2012) or While We’re Young (2014) you’ll likely sink your teeth into his latest with relish. On the other hand, if you’re like me, the sense of self-consciousness that pervades Baumbach’s insistently whimsical style will hardly change your mind about this lauded auteur.

Gender: 4.5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

In the small cast of Marriage Story, consisting primarily of divorcing couple Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) and their young son Henry (Azhy Robertson), supporting roles are balanced between men and women. Overall, Baumbach gives preference to the perspective of Charlie, who leads the audience through the character’s confusion and mounting frustration at the convoluted and eye-wateringly expensive mess their supposedly amicable separation becomes.

Nicole does see a fair amount of backstory—and importantly, she’s depicted outside the home and at the workplace, on a Los Angeles set where she’s shooting a pilot. Personal motivations are also explored through a key consultation with her eventual lawyer, Nora (Laura Dern). Yet the day-to-day reasons for Nicole’s legal maneuverings feel utterly opaque. Audiences simply aren’t privy to what she’s thinking during the painful game of telephone that takes place between the couple, and as a result, her treatment of Charlie feels manipulative from his (and thus, the viewer’s) point of view.

Other women like Nicole’s mother and sister thankfully provide her with female relationships, adding to the sense that she has her own life outside of Charlie and Henry. Still, nearly all conversations remain within the context of their separation, as Marriage Story focuses deeply on the dissolution of a loving relationship. Therefore, Nicole never receives narrative independence from the way she relates to her former spouse and their son—but in another nod to gender equality, the same goes for Charlie.

Race: 1.5/5

Marriage Story is a white-centric film. Its self-contained universe follows a white couple and their white families, and while the film does take place in ultra-diverse cities like New York City and Los Angeles, people of color are relegated to minor and background cameos.

Mediaversity Grade: C+ 3.25/5

Marriage Story hinges on personal preference. If you can buy into the characters of Nicole and Charlie, I imagine it can be quite affecting. However, the inward preoccupations—dare I say navel-gazing?—of its protagonists kept my sympathies at bay.

Like Marriage Story? Try these other domestic melodramas.

Grade: CLiFebruary 4, 2020