Scenes from a Marriage

Edit after Ep 5 (final): The series got better for me in episodes 4 and 5, and there are twists, with the two characters more dimensional. Episode 5 is a tour de force and I'm sad it's over. JC is more relatable, although perhaps her coldness in the early episodes was part of her conflict and unhappiness. There is a distinct and searing pain of being the one who leaves, but is rarely recognized in society or on film, but if it's here, it's just too subtle. I also haven't been re-watching the 1973 series along with this, which may have helped. I have to say that JC and Isaac do fantastic sex scenes. Not just erotic, but warmly emotional, very real, not p*rn. I'm not a big fan of requisite sex scenes (HBO is famous for them, esp those that don't further the plot) but these add to the drama, although they aren't necessary to it. I still stand by my previous review, below, esp re Liv Ullman, but glad this series improved as it went, rather than the other way around. I am raising my rating from a 7 (6.5) to an 8 (7.5), however.

Original review after Ep 3: I've been re-watching the original along with the new, and this is based on the first 3 HBO episodes. What can you say about Liv Ullman (an It Girl of her time)? She was spectacular in the original (and in so many other things; just complete mastery of her craft), as was her co-star. Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain are competent here (perhaps Isaac more so) as JC lacks the subtlety and physical mastery of Ullman. JC relies on her time worn faces and pregnant pauses while Ullman relies on...acting (with no botox).

Perhaps a comparison to the 1973 Swedish series is a bit unfair, but inevitable. It's an iconic series, by an iconic director and star, with the same plot (if gender switched and modernized), so a comparison IS fair. Poor JC, though, to be compared to one of the best actors of all time! JC Mira is even more cold than usual here and not a likeable character in any way. It's too bad Isaac is the amazing good guy and she is the villain. The original was more even, more believable, as they both were to blame for their marital problems. Ullman's Mira comes off a bit better, as the 'victim', but Isaac is downright holy in the new version. Uncomfortable to say the least.

It's also hard to really understand this without the context of 1973. Women's Lib was going full steam, wives were still often trapped in the roles of the 1950s. It was the Me Decade and people were suddenly expecting more. More romance, more sex, more happiness for me, me, me. And that is all lost here, even with the surface modernizing.

I was married when this came out, and we suffered from the same illness, and I have again, yet I couldn't really grab onto the remake or relate to it. Perhaps because JC's character and lines are so extreme and inexplicable. Not very real compared to what I went through (I played the JC role). But the original was very easy to get my head around and relate to. The current writers didn't keep the part of the script they should have and went off the rails a bit with her part. I've rarely been so unable to relate to a character.

I would have given this a 6.5, if possible, and that may be generous, but you don't see this kind of TV anymore. I wish there would be more shows with deep character development with time to explore motifs. And you must engage your brain. It's brave, it's slow, and if you are a teen or young adult, you won't get it and be bored out of your mind. Unless you've been married a while, at least. And it's not much fun, but like a car wreck, you have to watch.

Edit re multiracial couples: As always, I am dismayed to see people complaining about this. What century is this? How clueless of people to complain about non-white characters ("modernizing", "woke") while, in many cases, not even realizing they are racist, who shrink in horror at the KKK and other groups, while speaking the very party lines of said organizations.

Having experienced a divorce under some similar circumstances, I find this to be extremely accurate in its writing, and the performances are as good as any I've ever seen. Mr. Isaac and Ms. Chastain are applying their craft as well as it can possibly be applied. We are witnessing artists creating a masterpiece. Thanks to all involved in this production for putting it on for us. I'll be truly sorry to see this end, though I can imagine the performers had nothing left to give once it did.

The first episode goes a 'certain' direction I didn't really like, but the brilliant acting and production value made me stick it out.

I'm glad I did.

I love how it came full circle by the 4th episode, And there's one more! It really does a great job of capturing both points of view. Can't wait to see how it wraps up.

P. S. This is the best acting either of these actors have done IMO. And that's saying something.

This is what great acting, writing and directing are all about. One of the greatest pieces of acting I have ever seen in my entire life. If these two don't win an Emmy for Best Actress and Actor, then there is no justice in this world. A must see program.

This is an adaptation (by HBO and screening on Sky Atlantic in the UK) of a 1973 Ingmar Bergman classic. I had a feeling that creator (writer and director) Hagai Levi had gender swapped the story line (in the original it's the husband who has an affair) and placed some of the action in Israel (his name makes it obvious why and probably explains the casting of Oscar Isaac). The gender swap move is a neat one and immediately puts Chastain on the back foot with a big job of winning the viewer over. It's such a simple trick, but it's modern, interesting and immediately elevates it from the predictable.

To be honest there is nothing predictable about this at all. For a start the acting is so pitch perfect that you could easily be eavesdropping a real marriage breakdown and that makes it entirely uncomfortable from the get go.

And when I say the acting is pitch perfect I don't just mean 10/10, I mean better than that. Smarter than that. Realer than that. Were this a movie we would be looking at the two acting Oscars, no questions. It's like a lesson in acting.

So, that means it's boring then?

Nope.

Slow, I'll grant you that.

Intense. Indeed.

The cast list runs to 19 but this is really a two hander in which succesful businesswoman Mira (Jessica Chastain) and comparatively less succesful academic (and house husband) Jonathan split up over five intense hours.

There's virtually no music to lighten the mood, but when there is it's extremely well used.

It's not a lot of laughs. (It's Bergman). It really isn't. And it would play out extremely well on a theatre stage and yet, strangely, the direction is so superior that it doesn't for a second feel 'stagey' unlike, say, Fences.

I was captivated by this. It's so real and believable as Chastain and Isaac's marriage disintegrates, threatens to reboot, disintegrates again and generally gets into a right old mess.

This won't be everybody's cup of tea. But if you like a bit of misery and you adore great acting then tune in bro.