LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD
Artiller y is heavy and injuries are brutal in this deep dive into divorce
DON’T let its sweet title fool you: Director Noah Baumbach’s latest may just be the best war movie of the year.
Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) are an artsy New York couple heading into divorce, a process that starts with a mediator urging them to begin on a “note of positivity” by writing essays on what they love about the other. This goes off the rails in about 30 seconds.
It’s impossible not to superimpose Baumbach’s own back story over the plot, in which auteurish theater director Charlie clashes with his former-movie-celeb wife (Baumbach’s ex is Jennifer Jason Leigh). Driver is even styled to resemble Baumbach. It’s impressive to see, then, the degree to which “Marriage Story” attempts to give voice to both members of this crumbling union, even if its director ultimately sides with, you know, himself.
Johansson, sporting a nononsense mom haircut, delivers a devastating performance as Nicole, who’s grown tired of playing the supporting role in Charlie’s rise to fame as her own star dims. And Driver, who continues his reign as one of the best actors in the business, quietly articulates the confused pain of a husband and father trying to cope with increasing distance from his young son (Azhy Robertson) and the dawning realization of how unhappy his wife has been. The film’s climactic scene grows from an attempt at rational discussion between the two into a screaming match of horrendous truths; it’s scorchingly raw and brutal, a real feel-awful Oscar clip.
Baumbach, as usual, enlists a roster of A-listers in smaller roles. Much of the film takes place in Los Angeles, and his evenhanded effort slips a bit in his “Annie Hall”-inflected depiction of the city as a New Age-y haven for the shallow. Laura Dern, as Nicole’s lawyer, is as brash and over-the-top as she is right about urging Nicole toward self-preservation. Ray Liotta and Alan Alda play two wildly different legal options for Charlie, both acknowledging what he won’t: Negotiations will get way uglier than he expects. Julie Hagerty and Merritt Wever, as Nicole’s fluttery mom and sister, bring a little levity into this largely heart-wrenching affair.
Several scenes drag on — yes, like divorce itself — longer than they probably need to, especially in the courtroom. Baumbach is eager to make sure that every bit of illogical reasoning and needless cruelty — largely toward Charlie — gets its moment in the spotlight. There may be two sides to every story, but this one never leaves too much doubt about which side you’re meant to favor. Still, Baumbach ultimately delivers an incisive portrait of one of life’s toughest undertakings. For many viewers, it’ll likely provide bittersweet commiseration.