Marriage Story (2019)

I get that we need a new Woody Allen but I'm just not sure Noah Baumbach is it. I know Baumbach is hot shit and all but his films have never really done it for me in their bleak nihilist senses of humour often tinged with hints of homophobia. Marriage Story leaves me feeling very much like I did with his other films. Marriage Story, which feels like a not-funny re-imagining of Annie Hall, feels bitter and nasty, like someone who has gone through something painful and is searching for blame  in everyone(the lawyers, the extended family) but themselves. Its subject, the dissolution of a relationship and marriage, is a tough one and one that likely deserves some true catharsis exploring, but Marriage Story feels like it falls into obvious cliches about the topic and never really says anything interesting about it. It feels like what we're supposed to think divorce is like as opposed to finding a place that feels real.

Baumbach crafts a tale of two people who no longer love each other, growing more and more distrustful of each other despite the way they convince themselves they want to do the right thing. The system gets in the way, forcing them into conflict, taking the control out of their hands. We feel for them, no matter how awful they behave. His thesis appears to be they could have done better if the rest of the world hadn't got in the way. There is something interesting to that but he doesn't get into it more because everything around them is fairly 2-dimensional. It is all constructed to force them to be fake. I would have loved to see that explored but again Baumbach's idea of their real lives is so limited.

He focuses more on Adam Driver's character's perspective, perhaps fairly, and therefore Scarlett Johansson's character remains less developed. The film therefore also puts more blame on her, giving us more reason to resent her than him even when he explodes into a rage that is dangerously frightening.There is a scene closer to the end when the parties fight bitterly. It's been building and they lash out. So much is brought up but never addressed. Maybe that's the point, maybe that's his approach. But that approach just felt like it was missing something for me.

And Marriage Story chooses to slip into some absurdity at points which I felt took me out of the film. A bloody scene was I think supposed to be played for laughs but had me concerned the film was going to take a much darker turn, then ended up doing none of the above. At the film's climax Driver bursts into song in a manner which is never quite explained. Was it in story karaoke or a fantastic moment of self reflection? Not sure the answer is interesting enough to me to care.

And then, like a sitcom, everything is resolved. The parties reach a rather stable and overly comfortable new status quo without ever really earning it. The film builds through layers and layers of mistrust, never fully processing it, only to end up with the characters suddenly healthy. The ending is presented as either complacency (the bleak ending I was expecting) or ongoing hostility (the more predictable endgame). It just gets there without any reason. Again maybe that's Baumbach's point. And if it is good for him. It just doesn't resonate for me.

Marriage Story
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Hagerty, Wallace Shawn
Writer/director: Noah Baumbach