Scenes from a Marriage is a 2021 drama miniseries reuniting Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain as husband and wife (the pair previously starred together in A Most Violent Year). Directed by Hagai Levi, the limited series is an English-language remake of Ingmar Bergman’s movie of the same name from 1973. The five-episode series premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in September 2021 and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of Isaac and Chastain in particular. The source material and remake alike depict the painful and drawn-out dissolution of a relationship over several years.
Despite being based on the same foundation, the remake doesn’t quite live up to its Swedish counterpart. During the time of its 1973 release, Scenes from a Marriage was such a powerful piece of work, it was thought to have contributed towards a spike in divorce rates. Whether that is true or not is a difficult thing to prove; however, it does speak to the overwhelming influence the series had on its audience. While the general critical consensus seems to be the original is the more highly recommended of the two versions, they both have their merits. Here are the key differences between the 1973 Scene from a Marriage and the 2021 remake.
Breaking the Fourth Wall
HBO
One of the most glaring differences between Bergman and Levi’s Scenes from a Marriage is the latter’s choice to break the fourth wall. Levi opens the first four episodes (and ends the fifth) by showing his actors and crew on set, oftentimes wearing masks. The director explained in an interview with Collider that the decision to break the fourth wall was to remind audiences that the focus wasn’t these two people specifically (Mira and Jonathan), but rather a general discussion about the politics of marriage. Levi explained that by showing his actors, he reminded people that this is just a story, but the reality is it could be about anyone, anywhere. Furthermore, he felt he needed to address the pandemic in some way or another and instinctively felt he should show the production crew in their masks. While he may have had his reasons for making this critical creative choice, it wasn’t as successful as he intended. Levi’s choice to constantly remind the audience of his actors made it more difficult to invest in the characters and even the story as a whole. Bergman’s original was more powerful in that regard because it felt much more intimate.
Reversed Gender Roles
One of the more interesting creative choices Levi made was to modernize the material by swapping gender roles. In the original 1973 Scenes from a Marriage, Johan is the primary earner and ultimately betrays his wife with an extramarital affair. In the remake, however, it is Chastain’s character Mira who is the main breadwinner and the one who strays. Moreover, Isaac’s Jonathan is akin to Liv Ullman’s Marianne, in that he tends to the house and (in his case) also the child. Furthermore, it is he who is lovingly, or possibly naively, supportive of his wife’s infidelity. While this gender swap is interesting in itself, the really fascinating part about it is that it further examines the societal pressures women face to “be everything to everyone.” In Mira’s case, Levi delves into the guilt she feels for how much time she spends at her job and away from her child. She feels the need to justify her hours at work to appease her family, while at the same time working extra hours at her job to keep up appearances. The recent Oscar-winning actress gives a nuanced performance as a frustrated Mira, tired of being pulled in two different directions.
Family Dynamics
Unlike in the 1973 version of Scenes from a Marriage, where the children are really more of a plot device and then never seen after the opening sequence, Mira and Jonathan’s child plays an important role in the 2021 remake. In a recent interview with IndieWire, Levi discussed his choice to develop the child’s perspective: “Around eight years ago, Ingmar Bergman’s son approached me after watching ‘In Treatment,’ and he wanted to remake ‘Scenes From a Marriage.’ His motive, I think, was to bring back the children into the picture; [that he] wanted to reclaim the experience he had as a child. In the original series, it’s totally neglected. You don’t even know that they have children. But for me, it was the most influential thing in my work.”
In Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage, the story is told through the eyes of the parents, and from the perspective that the adults would want to shield their children from marital tension. However, introducing them only once and then never again, it is easy for the viewer to forget they were ever a part of the story in the first place. The reality is children are very perceptive, and whether it was kept behind closed doors or not, children can sense when something is amiss between mom and dad. The remake addressed a more modern take on family dynamics that is more realistic for today’s modern family. It is also important to address how the child’s mental well-being is affected by her parents’ tumultuous relationship.
