![]() He is no angel, but he wins our sympathy. The way viewers read “Marriage Story” may well come down to what sex they are.Ĭharlie does not seem able to get away with anything. “She’s a virgin who gives birth,” sputters Nora, who, prolonging the metaphor, says, “God is the father and God doesn’t show up.” Meaning that men get away with everything. After all, Nora says, the standard by which women are judged within “our Judeo-Christian whatever” is based on the Virgin Mary. Nicole’s lawyer, Nora, who is a stand-in for the devil, resorts to socio-religious arguments in getting Nicole to embrace her more ruthless instincts and present herself to the court as squeaky clean and righteously maternal. But they have attorneys, so they are lost.Ĭharlie eventually ends up with Jay, a more or less stereotypical courtroom carnivore played by a very persuasive Ray Liotta. They resist falling into the pit of recriminations and legalistic dirty pool as long as they can. Charlie, though temperamentally inclined to a degree of self-doubt, thought he was doing O.K. Nicole, for instance, has decided that being a wife to Charlie has finally meant sacrificing too much of herself. He is given the film’s best line: “Criminal lawyers see bad people at their best divorce lawyers see good people at their worst.” Among the points that Baumbach is making-especially by having performers play performers-is that life is an act, and the poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage often does so shoehorned into unfamiliar and even hostile parts.įew of the characters go morally unscathed in what is a sometimes harrowing trip to family court. One who does is Bert (played by Alda), the slightly doddering attorney whom Charlie first hires. Kramer” (a film with obvious parallels) to earn our sympathy.įew of the characters go morally unscathed in what is a sometimes harrowing trip to family court. He is a director named Charlie, she is an actress named Nicole, and both are parents to Henry (Azhy Robertson), who is, appropriately, uncharming: A child whose parents are splitting up should not have to be Justin Henry in “Kramer vs. (“The system rewards bad behavior,” says the shark-like lawyer Nora Fanshaw, played by force-of-nature Laura Dern.) It also stars movie man of the moment Adam Driver, along with Scarlett Johansson. With a score by Randy Newman and supporting cast that includes Wallace Shawn, Brooke Bloom, Alan Alda and Julie Hagerty, the film also includes a lot of what might be called unbecoming conduct. ![]() Noah Baumbach’s remarkably scripted new film might just as well have been called “End of a Marriage Story.” It goes virtually unnoticed by the people who are not directly affected. “Marriage Story” makes observations that are probably priceless in a world where divorce has become so common that it is quite a bit like death: It happens every day. Noah Baumbach’s remarkably scripted and spectacularly acted “Marriage Story” might just as well have been called “End of a Marriage Story.” It might also be a great movie I never want to see again, though it is too early to tell: Its nuclear-family fallout has not quite settled. ![]()
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