''Scenes from a Marriage'' is an American drama television miniseries developed, written and directed by
Hagai Levi
Hagai Levi ( he, חגי לוי; born on 2 July 1963) is an Israeli television creator, writer, director, and producer.
Early life and education
Levi was born in Sha'alvim, Israel in 1963. He studied psychology at Bar-Ilan University but left t ...
produced for
HBO and starring
Oscar Isaac
Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is a Guatemalan-born American actor. Known for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his gene ...
and
Jessica Chastain. It is an English-language remake of the
1973 Swedish miniseries of the same name by
Ingmar Bergman. It was presented at the
2021 Venice Film Festival and it premiered on September 12, 2021 on HBO.
Premise
An adaptation of the
1970s Swedish miniseries focusing on contemporary American couples.
Cast
Starring
*
Oscar Isaac
Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is a Guatemalan-born American actor. Known for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his gene ...
as Jonathan Levy
*
Jessica Chastain as Mira Phillips
Co-starring
*
Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles in films such as the drama '' American Violet'' (2008), the psychological drama '' Shame'' (2011), the biographical sports drama '' 42'' (2013), and the independent ...
as Kate
*
Corey Stoll
Corey Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 ...
as Peter
*
Sunita Mani
Sunita Mani (born December 13, 1986) is an American actress, dancer and comedian. She is best known for her television roles as Trenton in the USA Network drama ''Mr. Robot'' (2015–2017) and Arthie Premkumar in the Netflix comedy '' GLOW'' (2 ...
as Danielle
*
Shirley Rumierk as Dr. Varona
*Sophia Kopera as Ava Levy
*
Anna Rust as Veronica
*
Michael Aloni
Michael Mark Aloni (or Alony; he, מיכאל אלוני; born 31 January 1984) is an Israeli actor, director, writer and television presenter.
Early life
Aloni was born in Tel Aviv, to a Hiloni, secular Jewish family. His mother is an attorney a ...
as Poli
Episodes
Production
It was announced in July 2020 that
HBO had given the miniseries a greenlight, with
Hagai Levi
Hagai Levi ( he, חגי לוי; born on 2 July 1963) is an Israeli television creator, writer, director, and producer.
Early life and education
Levi was born in Sha'alvim, Israel in 1963. He studied psychology at Bar-Ilan University but left t ...
writing and directing and
Oscar Isaac
Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is a Guatemalan-born American actor. Known for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his gene ...
and
Michelle Williams serving as executive producers.
Upon the miniseries order announcement, Isaac and Williams were also cast to star.
Williams would be forced to exit her starring role in October due to a scheduling conflict, but would remain as an executive producer. She was replaced with
Jessica Chastain.
In November 2020,
Sunita Mani
Sunita Mani (born December 13, 1986) is an American actress, dancer and comedian. She is best known for her television roles as Trenton in the USA Network drama ''Mr. Robot'' (2015–2017) and Arthie Premkumar in the Netflix comedy '' GLOW'' (2 ...
was cast in a supporting role.
Nicole Beharie
Nicole Beharie is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles in films such as the drama '' American Violet'' (2008), the psychological drama '' Shame'' (2011), the biographical sports drama '' 42'' (2013), and the independent ...
,
Corey Stoll
Corey Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in 2013 ...
and
Tovah Feldshuh
Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh (born December 27, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for more than four decades, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations f ...
would join in supporting roles in January 2021.
Filming began in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in October 2020,
and was halted for two weeks in November after two production staff members tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
.
Release
The five-episode limited series had its world premiere at the
78th Venice International Film Festival
The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...
in the out of competition category. The limited series premiered on September 12, 2021 on HBO.
Reception
Critical response
The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported a 81% approval rating with an average rating of 7.50/10, based on 48 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though ''Scenes from a Marriage''s straightforward approach at times struggles to justify its existence,
Jessica Chastain and
Oscar Isaac
Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is a Guatemalan-born American actor. Known for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his gene ...
's crackling chemistry and impressive performances are a sight to behold."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gave the series a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 24 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ratings
Accolades
References
External links
*
{{HBONetwork Shows
2020s American drama television miniseries
2021 American television series debuts
2021 American television series endings
American television series based on Swedish television series
English-language television shows
HBO original programming
Adaptations of works by Ingmar Bergman
Television series by Home Box Office