Marriage story

At the beginning of Marriage Story, the voiceover is the couple's comments on each other, accompanied by clips of everyday footage. The husband thinks: the wife is comfortable, can solve difficult family problems quickly, plays with her son as a mother, she is a good actress... Wife: My husband is fearless, never gives up what he wants to do because of other people's opinions or any setbacks, works as a theater director in New York, and makes everyone feel like they belong... From life, to family, to career, each other in their eyes, is perfect.

Charlie (Adam Driver), theater director; Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), a former film actress, is now in theater. Is this really a model couple? When cut into a panorama, we suddenly understand, originally, the couple in the divorce, in the mediator's request, each wrote a letter to each other, count each other's beautiful side. The mediator wanted them to read their own letters, but Nicole refused.

It's a riveting opening, and we're all wondering: why divorce if the other person doesn't have a low opinion of us? Let's see what Nicole had to say to her lawyer first. It turns out that nicole, an underrated movie actress, and Charlie, a theater director, fell in love, got married, had children, and gave up acting for theater. Nicole believes that she is losing her luster and Charlie is becoming more and more popular. Instead of living for herself, she just becomes Charlie's nourishment. She was even more upset when she accepted a pilot episode of a TV series, thinking she had opened up a new world and had a value for her existence, only to be laughed at by her husband. This confirmed Nicole's desire for a divorce.

It makes sense to look at Charlie, the theater director who made Nicole, but he does put his career first; He loved his family and he loved Nicole, but he really ignored what Nicole was feeling inside. Nicole has said that when she was asked to be in the pilot, if Charlie had given her a big hug and been so excited about her adventure, they probably wouldn't have gotten divorced. Is Charlie selfish? Self-centered? The answer is yes. But when it comes to the divorce, he doesn't seem to be taking the initiative. Charlie and Nicole hadn't planned on hiring a lawyer, and when Nicole presented him with the divorce papers, he was a little out of the blue. He was forced to go to a lawyer, and this lawyer, at first, belittling Nicole, demanding child support, asking her if she was a drug addict, calling her a whore, all of which Charlie overruled, because that's not what He thought nicole was.

The film was directed by Frances Ha's Noah Baumbach, who said of the Squid and the Whale: "I tried to make a film that was true to the experience, not driven by plot alone." Perhaps Noah himself was divorced, so his marriage movie about divorce has a real sense of life and a lot of small details. For example, Charlie can't help but point out Nicole's flaws in her acting even though they're separated; Nicole, who is about to file divorce papers with Charlie, is delighted to learn that Charlie has won a MacArthur Genius Grant. At night, Charlie read a story to his son, lying in bed Nicole could not help crying; During the divorce lunch with the lawyer, Charlie doesn't know what to eat, but Nicole orders his favorite meal for him. Nicole cuts Charlie's shaggy hair; After the divorce, when Charlie leaves with his son in his arms, Nicole stops him and she crouches down to tie his untied shoelaces...

Such warmth does not mean that divorcing couples are always in peace. There is a nearly 10-minute quarrel in the film, which may be the most realistic reproduction of reality. The conversation was peaceful at first, and each felt that it was a little too much to go to court with a lawyer. Gradually, each excused himself, said his own reasons, blamed the other; Later, uncovered the bottom of the other side, some anger; Unconsciously, take out the parents of the other side to talk about; Then, in a rage, words of malice came out; In the end, insults, curses, abuse, out of control; Wait until both sides realize too much, crying, hugging, saying sorry... At this moment, we are all asking ourselves: who is right? Who is wrong? Are they all competitive? Are they inconsiderate of each other's feelings? Are you unwilling or unwilling to change yourself for each other?

At the end, Charlie finally inadvertently read nicole's letter at the beginning of the film, which made Charlie choke up several times, "I fell in love with him at first sight... I'll never stop loving him, even if it doesn't make any sense. See here, who in the heart, will have mixed feelings.