A story well told

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2019)

Marriage Story directed by Noah Baumbach is about a marriage between "two good looking " people involved actively in world of theater. Wife Nicole( talented Scarlett Johansson from Vicky Christina Barcelona) Husband Charlie (Adam Driver from my favorite movie BlacKkKlansman) have a son Henry (Azhy Robertson know him from the movie Juliet , naked)and have lived in NY for 10 years as husband and wife. And then Nicole and Henry move to Los Angeles to be with Nicole's mom and sister. The marriage already had problems and Nicole wants a divorce. The whole marriage situation and separation which turns into filing of a divorce is shown very well. The best part of movie is Divorce lawyer Nora Fanshaw ( played very well by Laura Dern) who has a great understanding of why Nicole should get a divorce , child custody and probably money too from her husband Charlie. Nora, beautiful and stylish, is confident, fearless and knows how to win. Her confidence makes Nicole feel meek. Nicole feels Nora is too aggressive. Love between Nicole and Charlie comes and goes . Anger and frustration about turn of their relationship drives Charlie towards anger and Nicole towards self pity. Nicole's need for her husband in every aspect of her life cannot be met by husband Charlie. The decisions they made about never involving lawyers goes into thin air when Nicole involves Nora as her lawyer. Screenplay is great. Laura Dern deserves an Oscar for portraying a lawyer who is compassionate towards the woman in a divorce and at the same time applauds the husband for his talents. Entire cast did a great job. It was truly a pleasure to watch Jay (Ray Liotta )as Charlie's lawyer. Jay is a street-smart lawyer and very competitive unlike Charlie's other lawyer, Bert, who is aging and feels sorry for Charlie( well acted by Alan Alda). Charlie's helplessness in divorce case is shown well by his change of lawyer from Jay to Bert and then back to Jay. Marriage from different angles definitely makes a great story. Oscar worthy acting.