Scenes From A Marriage EP 2 review: Living is not the same as existing

Clearly, director Hagai Levi wanted to spare no time in actually 're-imagining' this re-told, miniseries version of 1973-released Ingmar Bergman classic, 'Scenes From A Marriage'. After the warm-up of an introductory episode, Levi breaks free from Bergman chain of events as shown through his eyes, in his episode two of the series many decades ago.

Here, unlike its predecessor, Levi doesn't give us a crash course on who Mira and Jonathan were as individuals--all we know is that they are a couple only on paper.

An otherwise put together Mira confesses to Jonathan that she has been having an affair with a man for a while now, "I am in love with someone," she tells. Jonathan, blind-sided by this piece of information, doesn't know how to process this harsh truth of life. To him, his wife seeking solace in the arms of another man is not an indication of how far they have gone in their respective journeys as humans, but only a knowledge'he doesn't know what to do with.'

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Oscar Isaac's Jonathan is a repressed individual who, even when his wife he most certainly still loves, walks out the door, doesn't scream out in pain. Instead, chooses to purse his lips together and bite. Till it hurts. Mira's moment of truth may have been the highlight of thisepisode and the shock value Levi obviously wanted to inculcate, but she is a woman of stead habits, too. She knows with all her might that the relationship is hanging by a thread, yet, before exhibiting her first-ever act of bravery--of leaving the man she bore a kid with--Mira has to wrestle with her demons: "If I don’t leave now, I might never."

The juxtaposing of these similar-yet-different characters may not score high on the barometer for originality (Marriage Story/ Netflix) but the cracks through which this couple falls, and continues to descend, makes this modernised version truly modern--both in tone and treatment.

Aptly titled 'The Art of Sweeping Things Under the Rug' (bold approach, told you!), the episode yet again starts with a real-life, behind-the-scenes setting with Isaac plugging in his earphones before we are ushered into the devastation that he is about to suffer. There are no other characters that are introduced apart from these two. But, who cares? Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain are sotaut as Jonathan and Mira that the monotony of each scene does not squish the purity of the emotions felt. If anything, they act as elevators.

'Scenes From A Marriage' is now streaming on Disney + Hotstar.