Divorce is a very familiar subject. Some people realize earlier and some realize too late, but the realization of "do we really belong to each other" will happen at least once for everyone. Its a feeling of essentially together but still alone. The reasons are plenty from professional life to ego to affairs and some involve complicated reasoning. So its difficult to make a movie about this subject and make it succeed. Here the director tries to bring some sort of fresh insight without being overly sentimental and cynic. The story to me was bit of bore but if you want to see some terrific acting this year and a solid directing, see this film. What made we watch is exquisitely acted, a sort of a tour-de-force performance from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. If i have to pick one it will be Scarlett for sure. A damn contender for Oscar.
The story opens with love letters, Scarlett and Adam driver both expressing the feeling for each other, but you will be surprised to see the context behind. The mutual divorce choice takes an abrupt turn into a spiral of increasingly dramatic events when lawyers gets introduced for negotiation. As they go through the tough phases, you feel sympathy for them. Its a great examination of the internal conflict of human emotions which unfortunately they never expressed to each other in their 10 yrs of marriage life. The silence and mutual acceptance kept their life going forward. In that process both of them lost their voice and sense of togetherness. But in life nothing lasts for forever and the frustration will come out one day. But here in this film, its a controlled aggression and they never let go their mutual respect in-spite of their indifference. I am sure many people in some shape and form can relate to Marriage story irrespective of them married or not. And if there are children involved then more their chances of correlating.
Two strong scenes stood out for me. First one SJ meeting with her lawyer which is single monologue shot powerfully depicted and second one the couples devastating fight scene comes somewhere towards the end. A well thought out staged setting with a powerful script to back up those shots. In the end there are no winners or losers, and the conclusion is what i was expecting which goes with the film philosophy of showing both are right and wrong. So you may think, well we got some insight into what goes into making a marriage last? through this film, but the truth is there are no simple answer to the complicated institution called the Marriage.
Verdict - 3.5/5(A portrait of a divorce)
On a lighter note its time for SJ to say goodbye to Marvel Studios crap, such an underrated actor.