Baumbach's chronicle of escalating stakes in divorce war hits the mark!

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 2019)

With Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach has cemented his reputation as one of the more sophisticated screenwriters in Hollywood today. His film however should be more appropriately titled, "Divorce Story," as his narrative is basically a distillation of the unraveling of a marriage. The couple in question is Nicole and Charlie, played with subtlety by Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. Their battle is over where their 8 year-old son Henry should be growing up-east or west coast, as it turns out.

The film begins on a deliciously ironic note. We're treated to sets of voice overs from each of the principals, extolling the virtues of each others' personalities. On the surface it appears the marriage has not unraveled at all-yet.

But as the camera pulls back, Nicole and Charlie are in a marriage counselor's office, reading off their assignments from the counselor-to praise each other, in an attempt to find common ground. But it's also immediately made clear that each party feels the marriage is irretrievably lost, despite the positive pronouncements in these essays they've been reading, in the opening sequence.

We soon learn that Nicole, a talented actress, has supported Charlie, an up and coming director who runs his own theater company.in New York City. When Nicole has the opportunity to work on a pilot for a new TV show in Los Angeles, Charlie is under the impression that she and Henry will be returning to New York, after the TV opportunity wraps up-soon he discovers his assumption was incorrect (to put it mildly).

Baumbach's focus is not primarily on the warring couple and their disagreement-that no doubt would not work for an entire movie. He draws the battle lines clearly, however: Nicole wants Charlie to recognize her quest for independence-and she ultimately intends to remain in LA with their child, where she has the opportunity to flower. Charlie can't countenance her demand, as his burgeoning career is wrapped up in everything New York City.

It's how Baumbach chronicles the growing animus between them and the escalating conflict which proves so successful--coupled with how the deteriorating conflict proceeds in gripping increments, At first, the couple has agreed that they'll work the divorce out amicably-without attorneys present.

All bets are off however when Nicole is introduced to Nora (a deliriously fine Laura Dern), as the ball-busting divorce attorney, who's an expert at representing female clients. Charlie, still hesitant about enlisting an attorney, briefly flirts with hiring Jay (a thoroughly believable Ray Liotta), the attack-dog attorney who charges over $900 per hour. Soon after learning from Nora he's in jeopardy of losing custody of Henry and most of his earnings, Charlie finally conscripts Bert Spitz (Alan Alda), who urges him to cut his losses and allow Nicole to keep Henry in LA.

The stakes are exacerbated when Charlie drops Spitz and takes on Jay, who, in one of the best scenes in the film, duels with Nora in court, over Henry's fate. The judge ends up appointing an evaluator who will observe both parties in their interactions with Henry.

The family court evaluation ends up in disaster for Charlie, who ends up cutting himself (and bleeding profusely) with his small pocketknife which he carries around habitually on a key chain (it doesn't help that the female evaluator is completely unemotional). This probably leads to Charlie throwing in the towel at film's end and agreeing to Nicole's demand to keep their child on the west coast.

We can only conclude that Baumbach has done a bravura job in researching the vagaries of the divorce system-his superb characterizations of the attorneys involved are what ultimately give the film its compelling impetus.

Marriage Story is also a character study-not only the chronicle of Nicole's quest for independence but Charlie finally realizing that his demand to have Nicole and Henry return to NYC was tied to narcissistic careerism (Charlie eventually ends up in LA anyway, working as a university lecturer).

Baumbach also insightfully presents Nicole and Charlie's conflict as not entirely hateful. Even in Charlie's worst moment, when he has a meltdown in which he expresses his unbridled hatred for Nicole-there are still tender moments between them (as Charlie falls to his knees sobbing, Nicole cradles his head in her arms).

Baumbach's direction is so good due to his all-star cast. Some of the scenes could have moved a little quicker and one wonders why he inserted such a self-indulgent scene where he has Driver sing that entire Sondheim song from Company at the nightclub.. But these are minor peccadillos, as Marriage Story turns out to be one of the top films of 2019, certainly worthy of a best picture Oscar nomination, at the very least.