An inconspicuous film with big impact and great actors!

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2020)

Under the direction of Noah Baumbach, the highly acclaimed love drama "Marriage Story" was created in 2019 and won an Academy Award for best supporting actress (Laura Dern). At first it seems that the focus is just on two great actors, but "Marriage Story" is so much more ...
Nicole and Charlie Barber are married, have a son, love the theater and want to get a divorce. The lives of both artists have changed and instead of clarifying the matter personally, Nicole hires a lawyer who makes the whole thing all the more complicated and difficult ...
A story that may not have much to offer on paper but is one of the most moving dramas in recent years. A film rarely feels so real and pure. But the enchanting thing about "Marriage Story" is that despite the divorce, there is a lot of romance and love to be seen in the film ... just in a different way. Adam Driver himself describes the film as a love film, despite the divorce issue. On the other hand, "Marriage Story" shows how scary such a divorce can be, even without the painful emotions! The lawyers do the talking, almost like in kindergarten, and you feel helpless. The film shows this helplessness in a real, but disturbing way. Nevertheless, despite the many difficult and sometimes tearsome topics, Baumbach manages to build wit and good humor into the story.
Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver are the acting heart of this film. Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and the other supporting actors are all great, but it is Johansson and Driver who make "Marriage Story" what it is. Both have an incredible amount of chemistry and can shine with some great monologues. Nobody is the "bad guy", both are people with strengths and weaknesses and all actions of the two are understandable, which makes the arguments between the two so much more powerful.
Visually, the film does not impress with a breathtaking look, but the camera work by Robbie Ryan is very strong and often holds without cuts on the faces of the protagonists. Randy Newman's music also fits surprisingly well.
Conclusion: A must-see! "Marriage Story" is a rather unimpressive film compared to other masterpieces this year, but Noah Baumbach's film is moving, funny and sometimes hard to bear. And Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver play Oscar-worthy!