Scenes From A Marriage Is Better If You Don't Watch The Original Show
It's better to not watch the original Scenes From a Marriage before watching HBO's remake. The five-episode drama stars Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac as Mira and Jonathan, respectively, an upper-middle class suburban couple whose marriage of ten years is slowly deteriorating. Written, directed, and executive produced by Hagai Levi (In Treatment, The Affair), Scenes From a Marriage offers a brutally honest examination of what happens in a marriage, what makes it work, and what, more significantly, can lead to its demise.
The subjects of marriage, love, and divorce aren't uncharted territory for major studio productions. Most recently, in 2019, Netflix released Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story. Many have, in fact, drawn comparisons between Baumbach's movie and Levi's miniseries, and have deemed Scenes From a Marriage to be more devastating, pointing to how its minimalistic approach lends it more grittiness. Of course, Levi's approach isn't too far-off from Ingmar Bergman's own--and the original--Scenes From a Marriage in 1973. Like Bergman, Levi underscores similar themes of parenthood and family dynamics, explores the shifting power dynamics between a couple, and keeps the cast to a minimum, thereby spotlighting the leading actors' performances.
That HBO's remake of Scenes From a Marriage is very similar to Bergman's original series is precisely why it's better to watch the former without first having seen the latter. Levi's story of how Mira and Jonathan's marriage comes to an end develops in the same vein as Bergman's story of Marianne and Johan's. Even though there are some narrative and directorial changes to HBO's version from the 1973 miniseries, the skeleton is virtually identical. It is more interesting and therefore more rewarding to approach the newer series as a viewer with unknowing eyes in order to surrender to its modern sensibilities and to ultimately not know what to expect from Mira and Jonathan.
Indeed, the biggest draw for HBO's Scenes From a Marriage would arguably be the gritty and emotionally raw performances that its leading actors turn in. In fact, reviews for the miniseries have raved unanimously for the gut-wrenching way in which Chastain portrays Mira's intricate balancing act of appearing to be Jonathan's happy wife all the while harboring deep-seated discontent and inner turmoil. Jessica Chastain's phenomenal performance hinges on the copious close-up shots and, by extension, the audience's full investment in every micro-expression that flashes across her face. This works out better if the audience is meeting the character--and the premise of Scenes From a Marriage at large--with no preconceived notions. As great as Liv Ullman was in the original, Chastain perfectly captures the complexity of feeling trapped and unfulfilled and the guilt that comes from those feelings. Her performance deserves to stand on its own without comparison to Ullman's.
Similarly, Levi's directorial deviations from the original are better appreciated when divorced from Bergman's production. Take, for example, Scenes From a Marriage's weird opening scene, in which Chastain walks through the set among masked crew members and prepares herself for the upcoming scene. This isn't copied from Bergman's original and is generally an unconventional approach to a fictional production. However, it underscores the idea of pretend: Mira and Jonathan are pretending to be happy with each other in the same way Chastain and Isaac are pretending to be Mira and Jonathan. Moreover, it goes to show that it promises to offer a modern and nuanced approach to the original. As much as it respects the original, it truly is its own thing.