Envoy Score: 4/5
Marriage isn’t easy, it’s a road littered with complications which two people decide to walk on together. We are used to unconditional love and happy endings. Marriage story shows how love itself can also be a source of destruction and more importantly, what transpires when it fades away.
Directed by Noah Baumbach, the movie stars Scarlet Johannsen and Adam Driver as the doomed couple in a comedy-drama setting with enough complexities to make you question if there’s even the former. Azhy Robertson plays Henry, the couple’s son trapped between this catch-22 situation. The movie is centrally based around Nicole and Charlie’s divorce and how it tells their story.
The movie, subtly enough, begins with Nicole monologuing about how good of a person her husband is and why she loves him. Charlie does the same with his own speech. We then cut back to a marriage in a counselors’ office only to find out that these words were merely on a paper and never said out loud.
The story doesn’t take a lot of time establishing a good happy past. Instead, it jumps right into the now and how tedious life has become for the once happy duo. The plot is well written into deceiving the viewer into believing that the husband here is the victim of this divorce. It is only when the fights get truly ugly, we find out that certain things have been said and done that cannot be taken back.
The screenplay feels authentic especially in the moments when both characters are shouting at the top of their lungs. When discussions start with a ‘hello’ and end with ‘I hope you die’, you know the room is tense. However, the pain in that conversation is more than just words we listened to, it is the pain we feel because somewhere along the way, we have all been there.
Marriage Story is more than just a tale of divorce. It is a tale of a person slowly gaining their freedom back. It is a tale of them finally realising that they can be more than just somebody’s shadow. Ultimately, it’s a heart-wrenching story of how love comes undone and sometimes there’s truly nothing you can do about it except stand and watch.
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