Scenes from a Marriage
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The opening moments ofScenes From a Marriagehappen, distractingly, outside of the scenes from the marriage.
I found it confusing at first and later relieving.
When I turn the TV off, quickly, before the credits even finish, it all stops existing.
She lives in a nice house thats adorned with traditional furniture and muted paint colors from Farrow & Ball.
Jon is a professor at Tufts; Mira is a tech exec.
They live in Boston, likely Cambridge.
Their walls are just the right amount of nicked; their art is unchallenging but well-framed.
Mira squirms under the lens, but Jon is an eager volunteer.
He doesnt say husband.
She says mother twice.
They met as undergrads in New York, just like the Juilliard classmates playing them on TV.
They made a game of the mistake that they never stopped playing.
Its not that Jonwaswhat Mira wanted; she says hes what she wanted to be.
He had values and purpose.
This is love under capitalism.
You get the sense shes doing most of the recalibrating herself.
When the researcher finally asks them about their monogamy, stilted laughter is the only answer.
They havent thought much about it.
That their couple friends Kate and Peter laugh uproariously when they hear about the question is more telling.
Why are people faithful to one another?
Because theyre so in love?
Because self-denial is a measure of love?
Her boyfriend, whom she loves, broke up with her.
As their argument grows louder, Mira plays social chaperone, bringing Kate upstairs to resettle her.
Alone, the women debate the role of passion in a happy life.
She sounds singularly bourgeois when she tells Kate to rethink the arrangement, then apologizes for the judgmental scolding.
Miras having a hard day, too, but doesnt elaborate.
Kate kisses her on the mouth; its nothing.
Later in bed, Mira finally reveals the reason for her distractedness, her aloofness.
They didnt plan for it.
The covert texting from the bathroom was with her doctor.
Its not honest, no, but its motivated by caring.
They dont want to hurt each other or hurt each others ideas of each other.
This is how a marriage maintains its balance, it seems, with small movements and half-truths.
He wants to have the baby, he finally spits out.
They cant even talk about the facts of their lives with frankness.
Its painful wanting something and not wanting it at the same time, she tells Jon forebodingly.
Of course, happily married couples have more babies.
This time, Jons the one fidgety and ill at ease.
He arrives late and immediately leaves the exam room to get a soda.
Is he afraid of the medical-ness of their decision or the decision itself?
He clearly doesnt want the abortion; its just that the abortion is whats right.
Its how their marriage stays the same.
But after she takes the pill that will end the pregnancy, she asks to be alone.
The way feet shuffle, the way dishes are cleared and wine is poured.
If the conversation never ends, the life of the household needs to happen in the background.
I dont know, and yet, in the premiere ofScenes From a Marriage, I watched it happen.
