A hate it or love it scenario

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2019)

This is a movie a lot of people responded to with great emotions, for various reasons. Maybe some of those people went through a divorce themselves or were kids who's parents split up. While I am part of the second group, let me tell you why this movie emotionally didn't touch me at all, but why it's also still a good movie!
Hands down.... this movie has one of the best opening scenes I have ever seen and I kind of expected something like this after watching the trailer. It drags you in right from the start and you know you are in for 135min of a difficult character piece. I need to say it right from the get go... Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson are fantastic in it. The way they feed of each other, in this broken dynamic of a couple that went from love to hate, is mesmerising and you completely forget that they are acting, you feel like the invisible child that is witnessing its parents fight and you want to stop them fighting, but you can't.
Giving the audience that feeling is by no means accidental I think. The great camera work deserves a big shout out here! I think there are clearly 2 ways to look at that movie, the female and the male side. As I'm male myself, maybe I auto side with the husband in this scenario (I hope not) but I haven't seen Scarlett Johansson in a role that I hated her more in. Sure, the behaviour of the husband wasn't perfect either, but while the audience is lead to believe that the husband is the victim, this role can shift over (at a later point) to the wife becoming the "victim" and no one thinks about that the real victim here is the child who's stuck in the middle of all of this.
This movie is no joy ride and I tend to say that it should have been 30min shorter. Especially the musical scenes in the end felt like "to much". Sure, I get it, it's a reference to the Broadway theme, but it just felt out of place. Maybe this movie is a bit to long by design, to make you feel the dread and despair as a divorce, especially when it gets so dirty, is a process that goes on for much longer than you think it should.
I give it a 7.4/10 where the acting is clearly the highlight of the movie and I wouldn't be surprised if Driver and/or Johansson would be rewarded for their performances!