Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) are getting a divorce and want to do so without impacting their son Henry’s (Azhy Robertson) life.

Charlie and Nicole are artists living in New York. Nicole however is from Los Angeles and feels as though Charlie is frustrating her career opportunities by insisting they live there. When she takes a role in Los Angeles on a pilot they agree that Henry will travel with her, but when she files for divorce there things become complicated.

Marriage Story starts with Charlie and Nicole telling us in voiceover what they love about the other set to a montage of family life. It is the sort of scene in a film that feels life affirming and romantic and then the rug is pulled out from under us as we find that the couple are in a mediation session and this is their first attempt at arriving on amicable grounds. What follows in the next two hours are emotionally raw, heart breaking, compassionate and loving scenes on the break up of a marriage and the attempts by two people to keep their family together.

Writer/Director Noah Baumbach has covered this territory before In 2005’s The Squid and The Whale and this autobiographical subject is clearly dear to him. Baumbach was the son of two film critics who split when he was young and with Marriage Story he really does a fantastic job of capturing the perspective of a break up from the couples perspective. What makes the film so special is the script and the performances.

Johansson and Driver are nothing short of exceptional. There is a scene in the second half of the film that depicts an argument between the two that essentially sees them at their worst and most fragile and it is one of the most powerful moments in film this year. Driver perhaps edges the film for most powerful performance though as his character faces into the possibility of losing custody of his child.

Elsewhere we have the lawyers. Laura Dern has her second scene stealing supporting role of the year after Little Women whilst Alan Alda and Ray Liotta make an impact in only a couple of scenes each.

It is sometimes a difficult watch, but the craft and the love involved is unmistakeable.