Marriage Story: Cinematography Review

This is normally the type of film I would sigh for, but for some reason I was unmoved. That’s a bad sign because I’m a notorious for getting teary during films and I’m a particular sucker for a long take and an emotive, embittered argument. (Okay, there were a few tears during Charlie’s final scene reading out Nicole’s letter, but that was it!) Johansson’s performance did nothing for me at all. I find her really hollow in a way I can’t always put my finger on ... but I almost see her lines inked on the page as she speaks them. Driver outshone her enormously and I really hated being on Charlie’s side when I empathise so much more strongly with Nicole as a character. Chalk it up to performances. Overall, I think I just felt the film was trying to achieve the rawness that Blue Valentine found almost a decade ago, but it failed to do so for me. Or maybe I’m just an older viewer, not as easily moved as I once was by the act of being alive.

The cinematography was visceral and apropos, though not entirely evocative and a bit one note for such a long film. I enjoyed the shots getting closer throughout, the angles more obscure, and the lenses getting wider, distorting the characters out of proportion as we built to the climatic fight.

I also think the very hard, naturalistic lighting made for an auspicious parallel to this hard, dysfunctional relationship. It would’ve been predictable to err on the side of shadows and negative space and so instead Robbie Ryan has chosen to light everything here - almost blinding at times - cracking this marriage completely apart and shining light into every hidden corner of this relationship so that the characters cannot hide from us.

I can appreciate these choices and enjoy speculating on them, but I don’t know that there was anything particularly groundbreaking here in terms of visuals for me.

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