Despite Steven Spielberg’s attempts to limit Netflix’s success in Hollywood, they have steadily been making their stamp on the industry. In fact, if the 2020 Oscar nominations are anything to go by, they have quickly become a force to be reckoned with, having topped the nominations charts (24 nominations in total) beating the likes of Disney and Sony.

Marriage Story, from director Noah Baumbach, is one of their biggest contenders with six nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (Adam Driver) and Best Actress (Scarlett Johansson).

For those of you expecting a film depicting the gradual breakdown of a marriage, as I was, then you may be a little surprised. The film starts with beautiful, heartfelt monologues from Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), a one-time Hollywood actress, and theatre director Charlie (Adam Driver), introducing us to their spouses by offering an insight into all the wonderful reasons why they love each other. However, it quickly becomes clear that these ‘letters of love’ are in actual fact a last ditch attempt at saving a marriage long gone.

This New York couple’s seemingly insurmountable differences are made worse by their respective career paths, which were unified for so long but now pushed them further apart. Charlie’s latest play is about to hit Broadway and Nicole has taken a TV acting job that sees her moving to LA, and taking their son, Henry (Azhy Robertson) with her.

Although both Nicole and Charlie want to make their separation as amicable as possible, for Henry’s sake, things ultimately start to get ugly once lawyers get involved.

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The overall story is a simple portrayal of a messy, complicated and nuanced part of life. There are no props or exaggerated special effects, which means there is nowhere to hide. Ultimately the films success, or failure, falls squarely on the shoulders of its cast. And, boy, do they deliver.

From Julie Hagerty’s ditzy yet lovable turn as Nicole’s mum, Sandra, to Laura Dern’s sparkling, Oscar nomination worthy performance as the badass, ruthless LA divorce lawyer, Nora Fanshaw, the supporting cast do excellent jobs of either highlighting some of the shinier parts of the central relationship or twisting insignificant details into dark and grimy bombs for use in what quickly spirals into a full blown divorce battlefield.

Whilst both Johansson and Driver give, arguably, some career best performances, I did find myself leaning more towards the side of Charlie, although that may be because there is actually a semi-biographical element to the film as it is loosely influenced by Baumbach’s own experiences of divorce.

Although there are some elements of humour throughout, this is not a happy film. Fortunately, I have never been in the situation that Nicole and Charlie find themselves in but as someone who is only recently married, it was definitely a hard watch. This is a film that you almost have to mentally prepare yourself for, especially if you have previously experienced the bitterness of the divorce process.

Whilst I do believe that Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern are all very strong contenders for their respective Oscar gongs, overall Marriage Story doesn’t quite have enough in its tank to walk away with the Best Picture trophy.