Marriage Story

Marriage Story is a 2019 film drama written, produced and directed by Noah Baumbach.  It stared Scarlett Johansson (Nicole) and Adam Driver (Charlie) as the couple in the marriage, or more appropriate, the divorce.  

Marriage Story was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture (won by Parasite), Best Actor (won by Joaquin Phoenix in Joker), Best Actress (won by Renee Zellweger in Judy) and Best Original Screenplay (won by Parasite).  However, it received only one Oscar, Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern's performance as Nicole's divorce lawyer, Nora.

Charlie is a successful theater director in New York.  Nicole is acting in one of his plays.  Together with their young son Henry (Azhy Robertson), Charlie and Nicole have called New York home since their beginning as a couple.  

Nicole is invited to star in a pilot of a proposed TV show produced in Los Angeles, where she grew up and where her mother and sister still live.  Nicole takes her son to Los Angeles leaving Charlie in New York to continue his work.

When Charlie comes to Los Angeles to visit his wife and son, Nicole serves him with divorce papers.  They had been to couples therapy in New York, but this was a surprise for Charlie.  While Nicole intends to maintain custody of their son in a new home in California, Charlie maintains the family's home is in New York.

Marriage Story reminds me of what happened to David Goldman, his Brazilian wife Bruna and their son Sean who lived in New Jersey.  In 2004, Bruna took young Sean to Rio de Janeiro for a two-week vacation to visit her family.  Only it wasn't.

As soon as Bruna got to Brazil, she divorced David and told him he would never see his son again unless he acceded to her demands.  She then married a rich Brazilian lawyer, but died in childbirth.  It took David five years to regain custody of his son (held by Bruna's family) from Brazilian courts.

In a sense, Nicole took Henry to another jurisdiction, not Brazil, but California, and created a new family residence, not Rio de Janeiro, but Los Angeles.  The legal system there was more favorable to Nicole than New York.  Charlie was blindsided.  As Nora said to Nicole, "We won."

It is my understanding that if Nicole had sued for divorce in New York State, she probably would have won sole or joint custody of Henry.  However, she would not have been allowed to then relocate to California with her son without Charlie's permission (not likely).  Better to move to California before starting divorce proceedings.  

Marriage Story also reminds me of the film, Kramer vs. Kramer.  At the end of the film, Joanna arrives at the apartment building where she formerly lived with her ex-husband and son to take the judge mandated custody of him.

Joanna:  I came here today to take my son home and I realized he already is home.

Nicole, like Joanna, should have realized where Henry's home was.  But she didn't care.

In my opinion, when you have children, all decisions should relate to what's in the best interest of the child, not the mother's and not the father's.  In Marriage Story, Nicole puts her own selfish interests (career opportunity and living near her extended family) in the forefront and rips her son from his home.  She's the villain of the story.