Scenes From A Marriage

HBO | Release Date: September 12, 2021

7.9	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Ratings

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rajeevfromcaNov 30, 2021

Hard to watch or care about!! The characters are poorly written, with no clear motivations and wild mood swings. They seem to have no life beyond what is shown and cannot form relations with anyone else, thus miserably coming back to eachHard to watch or care about!! The characters are poorly written, with no clear motivations and wild mood swings. They seem to have no life beyond what is shown and cannot form relations with anyone else, thus miserably coming back to each other in ways that are hard to stomach. Clearly a vanity project for HBO riding on the brand name of the 70s show and some in vogue actors. Don’t waste your time on it!!… Expand

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truerockOct 12, 2021

The 2021 5-episode version of Scenes from a Marriage is a remake loosely based on the 1973 Ingmar Berkman 6-episode TV series of the same name.

In the 1973 version, the husband and wife have a traditional relationship. In the 2021 version,The 2021 5-episode version of Scenes from a Marriage is a remake loosely based on the 1973 Ingmar Berkman 6-episode TV series of the same name.

In the 1973 version, the husband and wife have a traditional relationship. In the 2021 version, the husband Johnathan Levy (played by Oscar Isaac) is a Jewish, stay-at-home dad with various feminine and immature characteristics (he was a virgin before meeting his future wife). The wife Mira Philips (played by Jessica Chastain) is a "product manager" for a technology company and is not a typical housewife/homemaker.

The acting, writing, directing, cinematography, editing, etc - are all very good. The reasons that this series languishes in a 7-rating purgatory is because of casting and dragging the husband's Jewish-heritage sub-plot into the script and other tangential things like the husband's asthma. Those side issues detracted from the over-all plot of the series. The casting of the husband and wife did not "click". I will say, that the original idea of casting Michelle Williams as the wife was an even worse casting decision. I can't imagine how such a bad casting decision came about. Although, I admit that Issac and Chastain seem like a reasonable casting idea on paper - they definitely do not work in this series.

Alternatively, Michael Aloni who plays Poli was an excellent casting choice to play the wife's boyfriend - even though he was much younger. The interaction of their personalities worked very well and seemed very natural. Their conflict seemed effortless and realistic.

xxxx

Regardless, the acting of Isaac and Chastain was so good, they went a long way to "selling" the relationship.

Perhaps the idea was to turn the 1973 version into a completely non-traditional 2021 version and that ambition threw the results off.… Expand

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joelgreenbergOct 21, 2021

Scenes from a Marriage teases the viewer in the first two episodes, threatening to explore and reveal a relationship without apologizing. And then, early in the third episode, the tone shifted and dullness overwhelmed the remaining episodes.Scenes from a Marriage teases the viewer in the first two episodes, threatening to explore and reveal a relationship without apologizing. And then, early in the third episode, the tone shifted and dullness overwhelmed the remaining episodes. Repetition may well be a marker in all relationships, patterns that help to define the partners' strengths and weaknesses. But this mini-series is repetitive to the point of medium - and the Chastain character suggests multiple personality disorder, so swift and unexplained are her moods, actions and self-righteous outbursts. Isaac's male begins with a sincerity and openness that commanded my focus, but then vocal mannerisms kicked in and too much of what followed was predictable and, sadly, annoying. These people are not especially fascinating - nor are they compelling enough to get past their self-absorption. Chastain, and maybe not is the writing rather than the actor, strikes attitudes that make no sense. Her escape to a younger man, played by Michael Aloni (totally wasted in a role that the writers couldn't breathe a nona-second's life into), served only to underline the threadbare ideas behind the hyper-real mumbling between Him and Her.
What a shame that the first two episodes couldn't inspire more than the sum of its parts.… Expand

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JLuis_001Oct 18, 2021

''I'll never love anybody the way that I loved you.''

Beyond the comparisons with Ingmar Bergman's excellent miniseries, I quite enjoyed this remake because of the incredible acting duel between Oscar Issac and Jessica Chastain. My sister''I'll never love anybody the way that I loved you.''

Beyond the comparisons with Ingmar Bergman's excellent miniseries, I quite enjoyed this remake because of the incredible acting duel between Oscar Issac and Jessica Chastain.

My sister was also watching it, I don't know if she finished it, but she told me that she didn't understand how I was basically enjoying watching hours of discussions, which is true; Scenes of a Marriage are essentially 5 hours of a broken relationship, but it's not that easy after all.
Nothing's ever simple, that's for sure, especially when it comes to this kind of stuff.

If you have seen Ingmar Bergman's miniseries, you will not find an improvement here. I couldn't even be able to describe it as an alternative. The appropriate word I think would be to call it a variant.
A variant with very good quality.

It's HBO after all.… Expand

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