Marriage Story (2019)

Marriage Story is a 2019 American drama written and directed by Noah Baumbach. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson star as Charlie and Nicole Barber, a New York theater director and his actress wife who are going through a divorce that begins amicably but becomes increasingly adversarial once lawyers — played by Laura Dern, Ray Liotta, and Alan Alda — become involved. What starts as a mutual agreement to keep things simple escalates into a cross-country legal battle over custody of their young son, as the legal system transforms their private pain into a public adversarial proceeding.

Noah Baumbach drew from his own divorce from actress Jennifer Jason Leigh to create one of the most emotionally authentic depictions of marital dissolution in cinema. The confrontation scene in Charlie's apartment, in which accumulated grievances explode into a screaming fight that leaves both characters horrified by their own cruelty, was one of the most raw and devastating scenes of the year. Laura Dern won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Nora, Nicole's fierce divorce attorney who reframes the narrative of the marriage in Nicole's favor.

Marriage Story received six Academy Award nominations and was released on Netflix.