Rent Marriage Story (2019)

3.5 of 5 from 356 ratings
2h 17min
Rent Marriage Story Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
A love story about divorce. A marriage coming apart and a family coming together. 'Marriage Story' is a hilarious and harrowing, sharply observed and deeply compassionate film from the acclaimed writer-director Noah Baumbach. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson deliver tour-de-force performances as Charlie, a charismatic New York theater director wedded to his work, and Nicole, an actor, who is ready to change her own life. Their hopes for an amicable divorce fade as they are drawn into a system that pits them against each other and forces them to redefine their relationship and their family.
Featuring bravura, finely drawn supporting turns from Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, and Laura Dern - who won an Academy Award for her performance here - as the trio of lawyers who preside over the legal battle, 'Marriage Story' (nominated for six Academy Awards including best picture) is a work of both intimacy and scope that ultimately invokes hope amid the ruins.
Actors:
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Directors:
Producers:
Noah Baumbach, David Heyman
Writers:
Noah Baumbach
Others:
Randy Newman, David Heyman
Studio:
Criterion Collection
Genres:
Children & Family, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Collections:
Award Winners, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2024, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Emma Thompson, Getting to Know: Scarlett Johansson, Oscar Nominations Competition 2023
Awards:

2020 BAFTA Best Supporting Actress

2020 Oscar Best Supporting Actress

BBFC:
Release Date:
24/08/2020
Run Time:
137 minutes
Languages:
English DTS 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 0 (All)
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.66:1
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • New interview with Baumbach
  • The Players, a new program featuring interviews with actors Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Julie Hagerty, and Ray Liotta
  • The Filmmakers, a new program about the production of the film, featuring interviews with Baumbach, editor Jennifer Lame, production designer Jade Healy, costume designer Mark Bridges, and producer David Heyman
  • The Making of "Marriage Story", a new program featuring behind-the-scenes footage
  • New interviews with composer Randy Newman and Baumbach about the film's score
  • New program featuring Baumbach walking viewers through a key location from the film
  • Trailers
Disc 1:
This disc includes the main feature
Disc 2:
This disc includes special features
BBFC:
Release Date:
24/08/2020
Run Time:
137 minutes
Languages:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.66:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • New interview with Baumbach
  • The Players, a new program featuring interviews with actors Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Julie Hagerty, and Ray Liotta
  • The Filmmakers, a new program about the production of the film, featuring interviews with Baumbach, editor Jennifer Lame, production designer Jade Healy, costume designer Mark Bridges, and producer David Heyman
  • The Making of "Marriage Story", a new program featuring behind-the-scenes footage
  • New interviews with composer Randy Newman and Baumbach about the film's score
  • New program featuring Baumbach walking viewers through a key location from the film
  • Trailers

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Reviews (7) of Marriage Story

Very long and yawn inducing divorce story - Marriage Story review by JR

Spoiler Alert
09/09/2020

The film begins promisingly. There is the voiceover of a man and then woman and they are reading a description of their married life, and all they love about their partner. Then we cut to a marriage mediation session, and find these moving essays were a task so the session could start on a positive note. But the tone is set when Nicole refuses to read hers. She is an actress who is divorcing her meteorically rising star theatre director husband for what seems to be jealousy. At one point, she says she enjoyed being the star when she was taking the lead in his plays, but when she became just another member of the theatre company, and he became the star, she decided to take their child, leave New York for LA, and walk out of the marriage to pursue her own fame and fortune. They both agree not to involve lawyers, but Nicole soon engages a rottweiler lawyer, played by Laura Dern, and passively allows her to destroy the husband's life.

The film is far too long at 137 minutes and needs ruthless editing and more humour. The script feels rather stagey, theatrical and self indulgent, and culminates in a long cathartic scene where the couple lose all control and verbally tear each other apart. There are 2 Steven Sondheim songs inappropriately crowbarred in, although Adam Driver makes a pretty good fist of it.

3 out of 5 members found this review helpful.

Great Movie - Marriage Story review by JD

Spoiler Alert
09/09/2020

Cannot believe the other recent negative reviews who seem to have missed the whole point of the story. 

This a well acted, in depth study of the break up of a marriage, told with compassion and humour.

Great cast, great screenplay that is very rewarding to those who bother to stick with it.

Please watch it and judge for yourself. 

3 out of 5 members found this review helpful.

Tiresome - Marriage Story review by RF

Spoiler Alert
01/04/2021

Self-indulgent and emotionally stereotypical - main characters over-acting and hard to identify with (having been through a divorce myself). Thought it was a total waste of time.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

Critic review

Marriage Story review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Noah Baumbach has such a way with words that can make the predictable drama of divorce feel more palpable. It’s mostly because Baumbach’s writing doesn’t shy away from making dialogue feel real and relatable. There are angry bouts between the husband and wife losing their roles, sure, but also off-guard moments that may surprise. Parents don’t often speak of their children like pawns or investments in their legal issues. Some of them just talk about how well they can read and if they’re pooping alright. These strange conversations but families are weird like that, even if Baumbach’s world takes place in one about the affluent.

Of course, it helps to have a stellar cast as well and Baumbach once again lands some top talent. Adam Driver plays the husband of Charlie Barber, a theater director who is seeing a rising career. He pairs well enough with his actress wife, Nicole, played by Scarlett Johansson. They have a son, Henry (Azhy Robertson), who they love very much. They have their quirks and their hangups but seem to connect rather well. It is for this reason why the film starts with their divorce already in the making, though not asking too much backtracking in how they came to this point. The truth is that divorce just sometimes happens and people drift. The real questioning within Marriage Story is just how easy that final drift can be or, rather, how difficult divorces proceed.

Though Charlie and Nicole seem to want an amicable divorce, other forces change their perspectives. Namely, it’s their lawyers. Nicole hires Nora (Laura Dern), a passionate woman who tries to stress how important it is for Nicole to be firmly independent. Charlie at first hires the lawyer Bert (Alan Alda) who seems kind but also weak. He will later hire the more furiously determined Jay (Ray Liotta) who is willing to play dirty when it comes to the custody of Henry. Though Nicole and Charlie both want what’s best for their Henry, others seem to think they should be fighting for more. Many misguided voices lead them astray, even the ones who mean well. Charlie’s oldest actor in the troupe (Wallace Shawn) talks about divorce more as an opportunity to have a lot of sex, coming from experience.

Driver and Johansson deliver some of their career-best performances for both their tender moments and heated exchanges. The bookend bit features them writing lists of what they admire most about each other and it’s spoken in such a relatable and honest way that nearly brought me to tears for the earnestness. The way they speak of tea that goes cold and Halloweens that feel lackluster holds an emotional resonance most keen. Then there’s the more notable scene of Driver and Johansson exploding on each other in the boil of fury about how much they’ve grown to hate each other. Driver’s anger is so immersive I questioned whether it was part of the script for him to punch a hole in the wall or if that just came about in heated improvisation.

Marriage Story meanders a bit here and there and often finds some odd avenues of comedy. There’s a scene where Charlie accidentally cuts his hand open amid a social worker in a manner that is darkly comedic and so off-beat it’s probably the most hilarious moment. Armed with astounding acting, every scene is so well crafted with Baumbach’s adept ear for dialogue and a way to make us care about such characters. The little details make this such a stellar picture of how divorce is a messy experience, even for people who seem so confident and clean.

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