It’s hard to see this movie as anything other than a direct attack on ethics, and while I love her as an actress, the character that Scarlett Johansson plays here is an absolutely abhorrent villain that drags her kid through the mud and breaks nearly every promise or agreement that she made with her husband. I can’t believe this was the intent, but every opportunity for her to act impetuously is taken and it destroys what little faith both Adam Driver’s character or even the audience has in her to do the right thing. From kidnapping the kid and keeping him on the west coast to hacking her husbands email, there isn’t much that I can think of that’s redeeming about the character other than “at least she doesn’t beat her kid every night”.
“Marriage Story” is an emotional roller coaster that has much more downs than ups and if you’re looking for a good story about the betrayal of women in general, I guess this is one to watch, but I choose to believe that we live in a better world than what they display here.
