Many people love movies, mostly for their entertainment value, but sometimes a good movie teaches a lesson or two. The movie “Marriage Story” takes a close look at a couple divorcing, offering insight into the process. The legal choices made by the protagonists, as well as differences between California and New York divorce laws, play a large part of the Hollywood-ized drama.
You get to choose who to have at your side
The movie shows divorce lawyers as larger than life, a Hollywood specialty, and also portrays unrealistic relationships between lawyers and their clients. The wife, played by Scarlett Johansson, hires a predatory lawyer, setting a number of events into action. The husband, played by Adam Driver, grapples with choosing one of two attorneys whose personalities are on far ends of the crazy spectrum.
Fortunately, real life lawyers are not as they are portrayed in the movies. You can choose a divorce attorney whose philosophy matches your own. In California, you can even hire a private judge whose qualifications match your unique circumstances, allowing you to secure your divorce privately and often faster than than going through the public court system.
Emotional aspects of divorce
A rogerebert.com movie review focuses on how spouses can take surprising and hurtful actions. The review calls divorce a “great equalizer” as both husband and wife do and say things they later regret.
While the couple tried to handle things amicably, hostility and bitterness engulf them, especially when it relates to the custody of their only child. The movie’s custody issue is a complicated affair since the parents live on opposite sides of the country.
While divorce is never easy, and emotional aspects should be expected. However, you don’t have to engage in the theatrics portrayed by the Hollywood actors of this movie. Make wise choices, and choose ahead of time how you will handle your emotions when they do threaten to take control.
