As Enjoyable As An Actual Divorce

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2019)

I watched Marriage Story today and I kind of wished I hadn't. It's been just over 6 years since my separation/divorce from my former partner of 17 years and this film was about as enjoyable as actually going through a divorce. It admirably hits mostly all the right notes but that doesn't make it any more enjoyable. ScarJo is an engaging actress but lacks a centre that would suggest something soulful beyond that; this could be intentional on Baumbach's part. She is eventually out performed by Driver, though predictably, the film is weighted in favour of his character. The supporting players are fine with interesting contributions from Merrit Wever and Julie Hagerty as ScarJo's family; the spectrum of divorce lawyers is nicely covered from Alan Alda to Ray Liotta and Laura Dern, who may be in danger of becoming too much of a good thing or, at least, the same thing. (It will be interesting to see if her Marmee in the upcoming Little Women is an original creation or just another cross between Amy Jellico and Renata from BBL.)
Mostly this reminds me of Michael Haneke's Amour, a film I described as "Disneyland for people who've never dealt with end of life issues." Similarly, if you've ever been through a divorce, there's nothing in Marriage Story that makes the viewing of it at all edifying.