Comparison · 3 shared techniques

Autumn Sonata vs Marriage Story

Autumn Sonata (1978) and Marriage Story (2019) share 3 techniques. Here is how each film uses them.

Autumn Sonata (1978) poster

Autumn Sonata

Ingmar Bergman · 1978

Marriage Story (2019) poster

Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach · 2019

Shared

Same technique, two films

Unbroken Dialogue Scene

Letting a conversation run for a long time with very few cuts. The tension builds from the actors sharing the space and from what is said, almost said and left unsaid.

Autumn Sonata

The night confrontation lets Eva and Charlotte talk with very few interruptions. The camera waits as old accusations come out. You feel how long these two have been holding them back.

Marriage Story

The central argument scene plays out in one unbroken setting, with no cutaways and no relief. The camera stays with both actors as they move from hurt to rage to the things people say and can never take back.

Deliberate Close-Up Performance

Holding a close-up on an actor's face long enough to catch tiny changes in expression. You read what the character is thinking from details a wider shot would miss.

Autumn Sonata

Bergman stays on Ingrid Bergman's face while she listens to her daughter play. You see pride, jealousy and discomfort in tiny shifts. The scene needs no dialogue.

Marriage Story

Baumbach stays on Driver and Johansson in close-up through the most painful scenes of the film. He trusts the tiny changes in their faces to do what dialogue cannot, since the small betrayals only show up there.

Single-Location Cinematography

Shooting almost the whole film in 1 confined place. Set design and camera movement keep it visually interesting, and the space itself takes on meaning as the story goes on.

Autumn Sonata

Almost everything happens in Eva and Viktor's house. The same rooms keep coming back, and no one can leave without being seen. The space gets smaller as the argument grows.

Marriage Story

The film maps its feelings onto 2 homes, the New York apartment of Charlie and Nicole's marriage and the Los Angeles house where Nicole lives with her mother and Henry. Each one shows a different version of how the marriage failed, and neither can hold both people.

Different

Where they split

Only in Autumn Sonata