Ranking Every HBO Miniseries From Worst To Best
32. Scenes From A Marriage
On the surface, there isn’t a great deal to dislike about 2021’s Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain-starring series about the modern American marriage. The two actors are superb in their roles, and it’s a beautifully filmed, patiently told piece of grown up storytelling.
The question one must ask, though, is: what’s the point? Remaking any of Swedish maestro Ingmar Bergman’s masterpieces seems something close to sacrilege, and here director Hagai Levi seems inclined to keep things pretty close to Bergman’s original, save for a few gender swapped details. The story is a universal one, so an English language remake hardly seems necessary.
It’s almost as though they’re restaging a classic play, and the theatricality of the piece can be a little off putting. If you like long scenes of actors acting their hearts out, delivering pages of dialogue at one another, this is the series for you.
It’s a classy operation, but Isaac, Chastain, and Levi are in a bit of a no-win situation. If you’ve seen the original Scenes From A Marriage, you don’t really need this; if you haven’t, you’re better off watching the original yourself.