What I love about Marriage Story is absolutely everything!

Rating: 10/10 (8 December 2019)

This was one of my most anticipated films of the entire year. I loved Noah Baumbach ever since I saw Frances Ha and this film isn't just my favourite film of his but also my favourite of the year so far.
Marriage Story follows Charlie and Nicole, a couple going through a divorce and how the actual legal process of that divorce is affecting them.
Noah Baumbach is an extremely talented filmmaker. I love his approach of making films about mundane life as there is so much that can be done from a character perspective. He possesses the ability to make characters feel real and create wonderful interactions between each of them. However, what he achieved with Marriage Story is stunning in every way.
This is a film that really focuses on its characters and their thoughts and feelings. We really understand the pain and struggle both protagonists are going through as Baumbach allows us to spend alone time with both characters and hear their perspective on the situation. There are some truly heartbreaking scenes that may be hard to watch and none of that would have been achieved without the brilliance of Baumbach's screenplay and magnificent acting from Johansson and Driver.
I don't think words can justify how phenomenal the acting is. This is Adam Driver's best performance yet. He deserves a lot of awards and merit for his work here. You can tell his character is breaking down inside as Driver packs a lot of emotion into each scene. This is also the best I ever saw Scarlett Johansson. There is a scene where she explains why she's getting a divorce and that scene is so moving due to the amount of emotion Johansson expresses whilst reciting the dialogue. The most distressing scene is when both of them argue and it contains some of the best acting I've ever seen in a film. Laura Dern and Ray Liotta also create a great amount of impact in every scene they're in.
Baumbach's script is one of, if not, the best script of the year. Each dialogue and conversation between characters feel extremely real and bring a sense of authenticity to what's taking place. It also sheds light on the nature of each character so we, as an audience, learn how everyone behaves. Apart from the characters, this film also focuses on the legal process of the divorce as well and how it can worsen the phase the couple are going through. Baumbach's direction is also fantastic. He uses a lot of long takes which effectively brings out the emotional punch that deeply affects the people watching.
Hats off to Noah Baumbach, Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and everyone who worked on this film. Marriage Story is a masterclass in terms of its characters, script and acting. This is definitely going to take all the awards home which won't bother me at the slightest because Marriage Story deserves all of them.