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Sep 8, 2021 · Reviews. Scenes From a Marriage. Roxana Hadadi September 08, 2021. Tweet. Charisma and chemistry can go very far, as evidenced by the recent viral video of “ Scenes from a Marriage ” stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain on the Venice Film Festival red carpet.
Sep 4, 2021 · 'Scenes From a Marriage' (2021) Review. Home. TV Reviews. Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac in HBO’s ‘Scenes From a Marriage’: TV Review | Venice 2021. Hagai Levi,...
Sep 10, 2021 · September 10, 20212:52 PM ET. Linda Holmes. Enlarge this image. Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in the HBO series Scenes From A Marriage . Jojo Whilden/HBO. It's fitting that the best...
83% Avg. Tomatometer 52 Reviews 78% Avg. Audience Score 100+ Ratings An adaptation of Ingar Bergmann's 1973 Swedish TV miniseries about a marriage falling apart.
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- Hagai Levi
- TV-MA
- Jessica Chastain
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- Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain face off and break down.
- What would be a remake you’d like to see Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain take on?
- HBO Max Spotlight: September 2021
- Verdict
By Kristy Puchko
Posted: Sep 12, 2021 2:00 pm
Scenes From a Marriage premieres on HBO on Sept. 12.
I have a distinct distaste for remakes whose goal is “like the original, but in English this time.” Of course, there are great American remakes of foreign films that put a unique spin on the source material, but too often, Hollywood is happy to plop the same plotline into a U.S. setting, recast its roles with dazzling domestic stars, and call it a day. Now, not even a seminal 1973 Swedish mini-series is safe from this kind of uninspired treatment, as HBO Max has translated Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage into a five-part mini-series that boasts Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in the leads. Though that pairing is promising, these heavy hitters can’t save this show from feeling like a shallow retread.
The Addams Family
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
When Harry Met Sally
Like the original mini-series, each episode focuses on a chapter of this marriage falling apart. The plotline hews closely to the original, involving disagreements about parenting, a loss of passion, and infidelity, as well as screaming matches and domestic violence. Co-writers Amy Herzog and Hagai Levi (who also directs) even name their episodes after those from Bergman’s show (“Innocence and Panic, “The Vale of Tears, “The Illiterates”). The key difference in this remake is that the roles are gender-swapped. This time around, it is the wife who gets caught up in her professional ambitions and extramarital interests, while the husband is the primary caregiver shocked to learn his contributions have been deemed insufficient by his partner. While Jonathan blathers on about how gender roles have evolved, the show itself treats this switcheroo as little more than a gimmick. Because the show focuses so intently on their household (few other characters will appear on screen), any assertions about gender feel anecdotal at best. When Mira defends one her shocking choices with “Men do this all the time,” it feels a crass misuse of feminist talking points on double standards.
Perhaps “revival” is a better way to think of this remake. Levi has not mined the original to make some bold new point about marriage, monogamy, or heartbreak. However, he has offered a stage for two of the greatest actors working today to face off in love and war. Reunited for the first time since J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, Isaac and Chastain are mesmerizing together. Both have dizzying screen presences that bring life to dialogue that feels well worn. Beyond that, they have a natural ease with each other. When the resentments bubble up, it hits harder because the intimacy established feels authentic.
Playing a man repressed by his need to project pleasantness, Isaac delivers a performance that is subtly heartbreaking. His soft tone is always in apology mode. His body quakes in a moment of repressed disappointment. His trembling smile sends shockwaves. In this crouched position of coddling, even the way he packs a suitcase feels tragic. Every quiet scene of desperation builds to a storm, where Isaac will grow from crackling jabs to booming resentments. Meanwhile, Chastain begins with this nervous frenzy, like a caged animal desperate to flee. Her Mira evolves, finding a new confidence that comes off initially cold before blooming to radiant but reckless. Together, their scenes of tenderness are as electrifying as those of catastrophic conflict. Plus, they get an early assist from celebrated actors, Nicole Beharie and Corey Stoll, who play a couple whose tensions explode over an awkward dinner party. Truly, Beharie is so ruthlessly riveting in this sequence that she might well score Emmy or Golden Globe notice for Best Supporting Actress. However, these are great performances despite a lackluster script that offers no memorable dialogue or distinctive moments of pleasure or pain.
Isaac and Chastain are mesmerizing together.
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Scenes From a Marriage feels less like a remake of Ingmar Bergman’s influential 1973 mini-series and more like a shallow stage revival of it. Co-writer/director Hagai Levi brings superficial changes to the story, but he has nothing much to say about what it means to be married today versus 48 years ago. To his credit, he does reunite Oscar Isaac an...
Sep 4, 2021 · Reviews. Sep 4, 2021 1:00pm PT. ‘Scenes From a Marriage’ Sends Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac Into Love and War. By Daniel D'Addario. HBO. Each episode of “ Scenes From a...
With Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac, Sophia Kopera, Nicole Beharie. Television drama miniseries which re-examines the original's iconic depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple, played by Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.
