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For many people in difficult life situations and in times of despair, cinema is the best conversationalist. It asks questions but does not require answers, and it also explains life without lecturing and judging you.
What to watch when you are going through heartbreak or feeling sadness, doubts, or resentment on the verge of significant changes?
The leading American legal paperwork drafting service OnlineDivorce.com, committed to helping the spouses all over the US achieve a peaceful uncontested divorce, has collected five brilliant films about marriage, separation, and entailed.
Liar Liar, 1997
Liar Liar is a seemingly unserious film with Jim Carrey about how professional deception gradually creeps into personal life.
The main character is a lawyer named Fletcher Reede, who practically lives in court, day after day defending the clients (most of whom are actually guilty) and arranging true performances for the jury.
Manipulation of facts and lies are his bread and butter, and clients take up all his free time.
He also has a little son growing up, on whose birthday he cannot come because of work, so he comes up with another tale. Since children recognize lies much faster than adults and react to it more painfully, the son makes a wish: for one day, dad does not lie and does the right thing. The next day, Fletcher Reede does not look like himself, and his career goes downhill.
Jim Carrey plays a hilarious but incredibly serious role of the weekend-dad, who has completely lost his sense of direction. The film remains an accurate verdict not only for a prosperous society mired in a swamp of litigation but also for parents who, after a divorce, can give their children at best a formal gift and precious five minutes after a working day.
Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979
This movie is an eternal classic, a film that makes a viewer cry every time. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep play a couple of parents who adore their only son. During the divorce proceeding, it is the custody of him that will cause litigation and fighting between the husband and wife. The father, who works all the time and ignores his family, changes after spending several weeks with his son. Their relationship will deepen and start over with a clean slate, but in the court practice of the late 70s, the child most often remains with his mother.
Kramer vs. Kramer shows exactly and recognizably what is behind the divorce: disregard for the other spouse, devaluation of his or her experience, and obsession with their own plans.
A blue-eyed child with a charming manner of saying whatever he thinks can become for viewers the mirror that shows how little they care about their loved ones.
Celeste & Jesse Forever, 2012
Celeste and Jesse Forever is a charming and sincere romantic comedy about the divorce of young people, which is worth watching for everyone on the verge of big changes.
Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg play a beautiful couple that has been together for six years. Now, the girl wants something more, she is much more successful, and the artist guy is used to living in her shadow. It is a believable story of how the love of youth fades and raises many questions for you as an adult. The divorce of close friends disappoints another couple who announces their engagement in this movie.
For some time, the separated husband and wife communicate as best friends, which raises questions from everyone who knows them. But the time comes to move on, and even kind and likable heroes in this situation will be characterized by selfishness and a sense of awkwardness.
Celeste & Jesse Forever is a guide to a healthy breakup without trying to hurt each other, accepting new partners, going on dates while remaining close friends, and maintaining a good relationship while you move on. All the roles in this film are written so clearly that you can easily recognize yourself or your friends. It is great that a divorce can have a happy ending.
Take This Waltz, 2011
A romantic drama by the sensitive director Sarah Polley about how an unsuccessful marriage ends bloodlessly and what high hopes one wants to pin on a new love story. Michelle Williams plays a woman tired of her husband when her day comes. Her new neighbor is a nice guy, whom she met on the plane.
Wherever she goes, a new friend is always nearby, which is why questions naturally arise: What is happening in my own family? Do we still love each other? Or is it just a habit? Seth Rogen is adorable as a husband. Sarah Silverman plays a sister-in-law who asks the very questions that the heroine is afraid to ask herself. Take This Waltz is a sad film about the end of a relationship and how a new partner cannot rid you of emptiness and melancholy.
Marriage Story, 2019
Marriage Story is a Noah Baumbach’s drama with Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver about the divorce of a theater director and actress. During the divorce proceeding, the heroes are torn between Los Angeles and New York, trying to share custody of their beloved son. Marriage Story has been named one of the best works of Baumbach’s career, as well as Johansson and Driver.
“Criminal lawyers see bad people at their best, divorce lawyers see good people at their worst” is a famous saying in the legal world.
In front of the lawyers, pleasant men and women turn into real monsters. The lawyers are used to the specifics of their work. The main characters of Marriage Story, Charlie and Nicole Barber, do not know that in the coming months, the wise, educated, and good people they are will gradually turn into monsters. It is enough to touch a raw nerve.
