Marriage Story A Film Review

Marriage Story: A Film Review
WHO:
● The director of Marriage Story is named Noah Baumbach. Baumbach was born in
Brooklyn and is the son of two film critics--Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach. The
first film he produced was Kicking and Screaming, which he produced at 26. Baumbach
has a typical recurring theme of dysfunctional families in his films, which says something
about his own past (he faced a lot of family trauma, including the divorce of his parents).
His most popular films include Marriage Story, which won seven awards, and The Squid
and the Whale, which won six.
● The two shining stars of Marriage Story are Adam Driver and Scarlett Johanson. Another
well known actress in this movie is Laura Dern, who plays Nicole’s lawyer.
● Some interesting facts I learned about Adam Driver were that he served in the United
States Marine Corps and he often played socially awkward characters before his big
debut of playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars franchise.
● I think the target audience of Marriage Story is people who are anywhere in their late
teens all the way to people of middle or old age. I think this movie is very timeless. The
film follows the story of a divorce, so I think the audience could be pretty much anyone,
once again. It’s a great eye-opener for those who have never seen divorce, and a relatable
movie for those who have.
WHAT:
● Marriage Story is a film about the struggles of a couple going through divorce and the
development of their relationship throughout the divorce. The underlying themes of this
film are ensuring safety and security in partnership.
● The key issue Marriage Story addresses is divorce--the film starts with that conflict.
However, there are also issues of broken trust and affairs revealed throughout the film.
● Marriage Story is a drama film about divorce. There have been many other films which
have told stories of divorce in this format such as Kramer vs. Kramer, however Marriage
Story brings us into a modern day setting.
WHEN:
● Marriage Story was released on August 29, 2019.
● The Marriage Story project was announced in November 2017, and the cast came out
later that month. Actual filming took place in Los Angeles and New York City from
January through April of 2018. The total production time of Marriage Story was around
650 days and most Hollywood movies take about 870 days to finish production entirely.
Marriage Story’s production was shorter in comparison to most movies of it’s length.
WHERE:
● This film takes place in two very distinct locations--Los Angeles and New York City. It
is clear that Marriage Story is supposed to be set in modern times (our current era).
● Marriage Story was actually filmed in both cities--Los Angeles and New York City. The
filming locations were true to the actual story.

WHY:
● In my opinion, this film is more than likely to become a very important part of cinema
history. There is one scene, a little more than halfway through the movie, that is filmed in
one take. The scene follows a nasty fight between the couple going through divorce. The
scene is so powerful--the dialogue, the acting, everything. It shows a raw and intense
moment between couples that might not be shown on screen very often. The fight gets
incredibly heated towards the end and I’ve personally never seen something equivalent to
it on screen.
● The question of, “In your opinion, was the movie’s explicit or implicit main idea worth
saying?” is an interesting one to answer. The film’s explicit and implicit ideas were worth
saying if the film was made in the first place. There is a reason every filmmaker makes
something. It could be something to make people laugh, or something to make people
cry, or something to make people think, but every film has a purpose and an artistic
vision in mind. Marriage Story is an especially important film because it realistically
depicts something that is a real problem. 40-50% of married couples in the United States
get divorced. Therefore, I think showing the story of a divorce can be helpful and
relatable for a good portion of America.
HOW:
● The scenes that open and close Marriage Story are filmed using a hand held camera to
really give the audience an intimate and “real life” picture. During these hand held
scenes, the characters are reading letters, in which they wrote about one another. This
enhances the intimate feeling. However, this is not the only clever technique that stood
out. As I said previously, the infamous fight scene from this movie was filmed in one
take. This made the scene feel long and almost dreadful, but it was hard to turn away
from it. It did a fantastic job of bringing the audience in and making the scene feel very
real.
● Once again, one of the most outstanding production elements was how the actors
performed during the scene in which they got into an intense fight. When a scene has the
ability to make the audience want to shy away, but still continue watching, it deems itself
as powerful. I think the scene is hard to watch for everyone, but that’s what gives it its
power. Another production element I liked was that the movie opened and closed with
the same message. At the start of the film, the couple reads aloud letters about things they
admire about one another. At the end, their child, Henry, is found sitting on his mom’s
bed reading the letter she wrote about her ex-husband. I thought this was a bittersweet
element that really tied the film together. The only flaw I saw in this film was some of the
dialogue. In my opinion, there were moments where dialogue between characters seemed
almost robotic. This could have been done intentionally, and I think it was effective in
some aspects but ineffective in others. Interactions between Charlie and people he did not
know could seem robotic, which seems effective because meeting new people is bound to
be awkward, especially when letting people into a vulnerable part of your life. However,
there were times when dialogue between Charlie and Nicole could seem robotic when
they’ve known each other intimately for years. I do not think this was a flaw in acting but
simply a flaw in the script.

Works Cited
● https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7653254/
● https://stephenfollows.com/how-long-the-average-hollywood-movie-take-to-make/
● https://www.google.com/search?
q=how+many+couples+get+divorced&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS784US784&oq=how+many
+couples+get+&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l6.3952j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
● https://screenrant.com/marriage-story-netflix-behind-scenes-surprising-facts-adam-
driver/

Marriage Story A Film Review

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Marriage Story A Film Review

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Marriage Story A Film Review

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Marriage Story: A Film Review

and the Whale, which won six.

debut of playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars franchise.

movie for those who have.

film are ensuring safety and security in partnership.

Story brings us into a modern day setting.

● Marriage Story was released on August 29, 2019.

filming locations were true to the actual story.

something. It could be something to make people laugh, or something to make people

vision in mind. Marriage Story is an especially important film because it realistically

relatable for a good portion of America.

simply a flaw in the script.

You might also like