Saw this movie on December 18th. The movie was so powerful that one night I tossed and turned, flashing back the clips of the movie in my head. I wanted to write something, but never got around to it.
During the Christmas break with a few friends to play around Los Angeles, we stopped at the Griffith Observatory on the way to the end of the tour, and I naturally came back to La La Land. Thinking about it, I actually found that this film is quite similar to La La Land - the main location of the story is Los Angeles, and the love between the hero and heroine in the movie ended in failure. The difference is that La La Land, as the name suggests, tells a fairytale-like story. Even if the hero and heroine don't get together, the film's climax takes the form of a reverie of what "should" have happened in La La Land. Marriage Story, on the other hand, is ruthless and meticulously portrays the demise of a relationship.
The main line of the film is the change of power relations between the male and female protagonists during the divorce process. At the beginning of the movie, the two wrote about each other's advantages at the request of the divorce counselor. In terms of writing quality, there is no difference between the two's articles. Yet Charlie (Adam Driver) is confident and can't wait to hear from Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and the counselor. Instead Nicole was distraught and thought his letter was terrible. This explains the relationship between the two people: Charlie has always been self-centered and takes the initiative in their lives everywhere; Nicole is submissive and easy-going, constantly changing herself to accommodate the man. However, Nicole is not a weak person. She has been looking for a way out of her troubles until an opportunity to work in Los Angeles shows her hope of getting out of the predicament. So Nicole and Charlie pulled the prelude to divorce. Obviously, Nicole has stronger motives than Charlie when it comes to the divorce, but in the early days of the film, Nicole has so many uncertainties that she is still at a disadvantage in their relationship. She accommodated Charlie and went to see a counselor with him. She was worried that if the show in Los Angeles was unsuccessful, she would be laughed at by Charlie. She was worried that Charlie would laugh at the success of the show in Los Angeles. Until she meets attorney Nora (Laura Dern).
The setting of the lawyers chosen by Charlie and Nicole in this film is very interesting. Here we need to borrow an old-fashioned example: when people face a difficult choice, there will be two villains in their hearts, one villain persuades you to choose the right path, and the other villain persuades you to choose the easy path. Nicole's lawyer Nora is the former, Charlie's old lawyer is the latter. With Nora's help, Nicole has been in control of the divorce. In court, Nora actually represented the tough side that Nicole had hoped for in himself, even if Nicole himself couldn't accept the ugliness of the courtroom at the time. At the end of the film, Nicole wins in court and Nora is a guest at her house party.
The old lawyer Charlie chose, and he entered Charlie's heart with sincere words as soon as they met. I was also persuaded while watching the movie, especially the line "Time is on your side". However, the director immediately told the audience that something was wrong with the line "You remind me of myself in my second marriage". Even though the lawyer grandpa knows so much, he has already been divorced three times. To a certain extent, the old lawyer represents Charlie's inner concession and avoidance of conflicts and contradictions. During the avoidance, Charlie found that there were more and more contradictions, and he became less and less able to retreat.
Back to the power relationship between Charlie and Nicole. In fact, since the divorce process, the potential has been on Nicole's side. From what I understand, what is depicted in the film is more like Nicole's gradual adjustment to being the active side, and Charlie's gradual accepting that she is the weaker side. In this process, the hidden power has emerged as the power relationship transformation on the bright side. This shift becomes more pronounced with each quarrel, so much so that the power level is clear before the film's climactic quarrel. This leads me to the feeling that Adam Driver is trying too hard to act hysterically during the argument, and it's only real when he kneels in front of Nicole after yelling.
When I just finished watching this movie I was sighing that the movie doesn't leave any way out, "Time is on your side" is just a lie. But now I see that it's because I've unknowingly put myself into Charlie's point of view. From Nicole's point of view, the movie does not describe a story from a difficult situation to a sudden enlightenment.
PS: The conflict between Academia vs Industry revealed from time to time in the film is also evocative. Charlie's MacArthur Fellowship is the top prize in academia. Isn't Nicole's career a transition from Academia to Industry.
2020-01-10 In the stormy Austin
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