Detailed and devastating: Marriage Story reviewed

Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is a drama about the breakdown of a marriage and it is, at times, devastatingly painful. ‘Divorce,’ says a lawyer at one point, ‘is like a death without a body.’ It’s certainly not the most fun you’ll ever have at the cinema — although it is witty and there are some brilliantly comic lines — but you will see something riveting, detailed, authentic and excellent. Plus it also marks the return of Scarlett Johansson as an interesting actress — remember Lost in Translation? — rather than the one who hangs out with Iron Man and Thor and just does sexy kicks. I’d even forgotten she could be as interesting as this, frankly.

Johansson plays Nicole while Adam Driver plays Charlie. They’re a married couple with an eight-year-old son, Henry (Azhy Robertson), who live in New York. Charlie is an up-and-coming theatre director while she’s the actress who stars in his highbrow plays but is originally from LA and planned to have a Hollywood career.