A Need for Change.

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2020)

A bittersweet comedy about an marriage that is changing, but not ending. Actress, Nicole Barber (Scarlett Johansson) and husband and establish play director Charlie Barber (Adam Driver) work through a coast-to-coast divorce as Nicole pursues a Hollywood acting career. Marriage Story focuses on the struggle of changing dreams in life and in a marriage. Compromise is something not negotiable for this couple. The couple fights to find what is best for their son, Henry, as their lawyers fight to make Nicole and Charlie the enemy. Marriage Story, a Netflix original, gives the story of an established New York couple who works through marital problems in their own way.
The theme of this film is change. Change can come in many different forms and it can define someone's character by how they react to the world changing around them. In this film, Nicole and Charlie are going through a pretty serious divorce, a divorce that they did not see in their future. But, was necessary because according to Nicole, Charlie was a control freak of their marriage and never really listened to what Nicole wanted. There were many different factors that caused their divorce and the elements of the divorce causes some serious changes in this family of three. Change can be difficult for some, or a necessity for others, but how you react can often define who you are.
This film uses many techniques to make this film as great as it really is. The use of lighting and dialogue make this film. When in New York, the lighting of the film seems darker, giving that depressive East coast feel, while in California, everything is bright, representing new hope and happiness the sunshine gives. This is important because it shows the difference between the two cities and it also goes to Henry's emotions of his living situations. Henry was born in California, but grew up in New York. Once Nicole moved back out to California, Henry was happier, found more friends at school, and was around his cousins more than he was in New York. The lighting of these scenes help show Henry's happiness and how he thinks his life is better in California. Dialogue also helped created the emotion and intensity of the film. One scene that relied heavily on the use of good dialogue was the scene towards the end of the film where Nicole and Charlie were yelling at each other in Charlie's California apartment living room. They start off discussing what is best for Henry because during the divorce, they had moved away from the well-being of their child. This scene develops into a heated yelling match about all the things that they see wrong with each other and how their marriage did not work. Without the words said from both Charlie and Nicole, this scene would never have had the impact it did without the use of strong language and good use of dialogue. There were plenty of other film techniques used in this film, but lighting and dialogue were the most effective.
Marriage Story depicted a couple living the dream in New York until they were not anymore. Nicole and Charlie Barber were a successful, play producing couple, until Nicole wanted to change her career. Things went downhill when Charlie did not support her like she did for him all those year. This film was a story of change and how the characters responded to that change.
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