“Scenes from a Marriage” on HBO, and why the series is
interesting to me
I’ve watched the first two (of five) episodes of
“Scenes from a Marriage” on HBO Max (2021, total for all series is about 5
hours). The series, created and largely
directed by Hagai Levi, is based on a similar 1973
series on Swedish television and 3 hour 1974 film by
Ingmar Bergman. Each episode is called a “Scene”, stressing the idea that in a
lifelong marriage, costs and consequences for little gains or squabbles can play
out for years.
Episode 1 is called “Innocence and Panic”. It starts with a survey interviewing the
couple: Jonathan (Oscar Isaac) a philosopher professor at Tufts near Boston,
and Mira (Jessica Chastain), a technology executive for an Israeli
company. They have a four
year old daughter, Ava (Sophia Kopera).
Jonathan actually stays home more with the child than his jetsetting
wife.
Soon they have a dinner party with another couple that
admits to infidelity, even bragging about it.
Then Mira misses a pill and has to announce she is
pregnant. At first
they talk about renovating the house to make another bedroom, but soon she is
in a doctor’s office getting a pharmaceutical abortion.
Episode 2 is called “Poli”, named after Mira’s new
boyfriend. She returns early from a trip
and tells Jonathan she has fallen in love with Poli, a much younger man and
tech executive with whom she wants to leave on a trip the next day. “I’m no longer attracted to you”. Johnathan, who thinks he has done everyone
right, suffers and mopes. The infidelity
roles are reversed from the 1973 series.
The new episode shows some people with masks, as to imply the passage of
time into the pandemic (but then air travel and jetsetting
would be harder).
(Remaining episodes viewed Christmas day.)
Episode 3 is titled “The Vale of Tears“. The couple tries to reunite after eight
months of separation and concern over their daughter. They attempt intimacy but
Jonathan is not ready for it.
Episode 4 is titled “The Illiterates“. Now the couple is dividing assets for a
divorce, yet have one last intimate scene, quite vigorous and even anal. Then they have a bitter fight. Jonathan confides that he had wanted a second
child as a sibling for Ava. He also notes that he had resented his financial dependence
on her, as tech executives made more than academics. Mira had been fired from
her job over the public fallout of their divorce.
Episode 5 is titled “In the Middle of the Night, in a
Dark House, Somewhere in the World”. A few years later, the couple reunites at a
funeral and Johnathan takes Mira by their old house (symmetrical) which is now
rented as an Airbnb. How ironic, they
stay their and relive better times in memories, and
still love each other somewhat. But
Johnathan has remarried and had a son Ethan (before the marriage).
The music score, in waltz rhythm, is composed by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine but
resembles Satie. The miniseries appears
to be filmed in a suburb upstate of NYC.
The progress of a heterosexual marriage when
confronted with sudden, shocking external events is of some interest to me now,
because the first of three extract screenplays from my books (related to
backstories in “Second Epiphany”, more or less) is based on the narrative of my
1961 William and Mary expulsion, told from my parents’ viewpoint because the
way it was communicated to them was shocking, and yes it could have threatened
the marriage. There was a long tail of
consequences that makes classical screenwriting in a single movie script more
difficult.
The series is rated TV-MA but as a film it would earn
an R.
(Originally posted: Wednesday, December 22, 2021 at 12:30 PM EST)