Marriage Story (2019)

A theater director (Adam Driver) and his actress wife (Scarlett Johansson) are divorcing. While he stays in New York directing a play, she relocates to Los Angeles to do a TV series. But nothing has prepared them for the enormity and emotional pain that divorce brings, not to mention the expensive business that attorneys make off divorce. Directed by Noah Baumbach (MARGOT AT THE WEDDING), the title is a misnomer. It should have been called DIVORCE STORY. This long (it's over two hours) film is a raw and uncompromising look at the disintegration of a marriage and the ensuing divorce process. It puts a maudlin piece of mainstream cinema on the same subject like KRAMER VS. KRAMER to shame. At times, it can be painful to sit through as long withheld rages come spewing forth but it's an honest look without any sentimental sheen. The acting is superb with Scarlett Johansson giving a career best performance and Adam Driver's delivery of Sondheim's BEING ALIVE should bring tears to your eyes. The movie does have a bit of fat could have been edited out. For example, there's a scene where Driver accidentally cuts himself with a knife that doesn't add anything to the narrative. Devastating and powerful. With Laura Dern (terrific as a jaded divorce attorney), Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Wallace Shawn and Julie Hagerty.