Film
The Story of Us
A marriage at the breaking point. After fifteen years together, Ben and Katie have become strangers—still performing contentment for the kids, still sharing a bed, but utterly disconnected. When their children leave for summer camp, they finally stop pretending and confront whether staying together makes sense. It's funny and sad in unequal measure, anchored by two excellent actors who understand that real relationships die in small moments, not dramatic ones.
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Kramer vs. Kramer1979
The template for divorce-drama-with-humour. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep navigate the logistics and emotions of separation with wit and tenderness, showing how love and resentment can coexist. Essential viewing on this subject.
But It's now forty-five years old and moves at a pace that feels deliberate rather than urgent. Some of the gender politics have dated, though not fatally.

When Harry Met Sally...1989
Rob Reiner directed both this and Story of Us, and it shows—the same warm intelligence about relationships, the same faith that conversation can be as gripping as plot. This one proves Reiner understands how two people talk themselves into and out of love.
But It's a romantic comedy, not a separation drama, so the emotional register is lighter. If you want the full weight, this won't deliver it.

About a Boy2002
A smart ensemble comedy about how adults actually behave—self-interested, funny, capable of growth. Hugh Grant plays a man learning that real connection requires vulnerability. Warm without being sentimental.
But It's fundamentally optimistic about human nature. If you're looking for something bleaker or more cynical, this will feel a bit earnest.

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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Scenes from a Marriage2021
Both films understand that a marriage can be a long conversation that ends with two people realizing they've been talking different languages. The intimacy that builds a relationship is the same intimacy that can destroy it.
Bergman's six-episode series is the brutal ancestor of everything about marriage on screen. It doesn't offer comfort: it's about two intelligent people who destroy each other through honesty and cowardice in equal measure. Shattering and necessary.
But It's Swedish, it's from 1973, it's Bergman—so it's slow, philosophical, and demands emotional stamina. Some scenes are almost unwatchable in their intimacy. Not entertainment, exactly; more like therapy you didn't consent to.

More like this (8)
Crazy, Stupid, Love.2011
A marriage on the rocks, seen from multiple angles, with real stakes underneath the charm. Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling have unexpected chemistry, and the film trusts that heartbreak and comedy can happen in the same scene.
But It occasionally leans into neat resolutions. Some plot threads wrap up with a little too much certainty for a film about actual human messiness.

The Good Girl2002
Jennifer Aniston in a sharp, unglamorous role as a woman stuck in a stalled marriage, quietly spiralling. It's funny in a mordant way and never condescends to its characters, even when they make terrible choices.
But It's bleak. There's no redemptive arc, no moment where things click into place. It ends with people still broken.

Olive Kitteridge2014
A miniseries about a long marriage, seen across decades and small moments. Frances McDormand is extraordinary—brittle, loyal, infuriating, human. It understands that marriages are weathered over years, not decided in a single crisis.
But It's slow and meditative. If you want plot momentum or clear narrative drive, this will test your patience. It's about texture, not event.

Boyhood2014
Twelve years of one boy's life, filmed in real time with the same cast. It's a meditation on how people change imperceptibly, how marriages fray, how time is the real story. Hypnotic and quiet.
But Nothing happens in the conventional sense. If you need dramatic structure or clear conflict, the premise might frustrate you. It requires patience with ordinariness.

Before Sunrise1995
Two people talk for one night in Vienna. Linklater and Hawke prove that conversation, specificity, and genuine affection can sustain a film. A masterclass in how people actually connect—and miss each other.
But Almost entirely dialogue. If you need visual spectacle or conventional drama, this is basically a ninety-minute conversation. Some find it rapturous; others find it static.

Parenthood1989
An ensemble film about multiple generations navigating love, ambition, and disappointment. Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen play a couple trying to hold it together while raising teenagers. Honest about what marriage actually costs.
But It's very much a 1989 film—the pacing is baggy, the score is intrusive, and some emotional beats land a bit hard. It can feel overstuffed with story threads.

Another Year2010
Where Story of Us asks whether a marriage can be saved, Another Year asks what makes one last. Both examine the question through fidelity and effort, but Leigh's answer is grimmer: sometimes it's just luck or stubbornness that keeps two people together.
Mike Leigh's film about a happy marriage—but from the outside. We watch Tom and Gerri's contentment through the eyes of their miserable friends. It's quietly vicious about how happiness in one relationship can expose the failures in another.
But It's English social realism, which means it's drab, uncomfortable, and occasionally cruel. Leigh doesn't offer many moments of release or warmth. It can feel like punishment for the viewer.

thirtysomething1987
Both Story of Us and Thirtysomething locate marriage in the specific texture of daily life—the kids, the careers, the moment when you realize the person you're sleeping next to is a stranger. But where the film asks if two people can recover that connection, the series suggests that maybe the exhaustion is the point.
A television series (1987–1991) that was practically invented to depict the emotional lives of married couples in their thirties—the hangovers, the exhaustion, the gap between who you thought you'd be and who you are. It's melodrama, but it's smart melodrama.
But It's very much a network drama of its era: bright, sometimes saccharine, resolved in neat arcs. Some episodes feel dated or overwrought. And at five seasons, you're committing real time.

People
Cast
Bruce WillisBen Jordan
Michelle PfeifferKatie Jordan
Rob ReinerStan Kogen
Colleen RennisonErin Jordan (at Ten)
Jake SandvigJosh Jordan (at Twelve)
Julie HagertyLiza
Rita WilsonRachel Kogen
Paul ReiserDave
Red ButtonsArnie Jordan
Betty WhiteLillian Jordan
Tom PostonHarry
Directing
- Rob ReinerDirector
- Frank Capra IIIFirst Assistant Director
- Kerry Lyn McKissickScript Supervisor
- Bojana SuticSecond Assistant Director
- Todd Y. MurataSecond Assistant Director
- Emanuela MinoliSecond Second Assistant Director
- Ken WadaSecond Second Assistant Director
Writing
- Alan ZweibelWriter
- Jessie NelsonWriter
Production
- Marilena La FerraraAssistant Accountant
- Matthew B. ChamberlinAssistant Location Manager
- Paul SchreiberAssistant Location Manager
- Steven S. LeeAssistant Location Manager
- Jennifer S. DeaytonAssistant Production Coordinator
- Simona SciannimanicoAssistant Production Coordinator
- Tammy GloverAssociate Producer
- Jane JenkinsCasting
- Janet HirshensonCasting
- Amy ChoiceCasting Assistant
- Frank Capra IIIExecutive Producer
- Jeffrey StottExecutive Producer
- Jeff DashFirst Assistant Accountant
- Brian RelyeaKey Set Production Assistant
- Kayce BrownKey Set Production Assistant
- Ken HaberLocation Manager
- Lori A. BaltonLocation Manager
- Liz ProbstPayroll Accountant
- Salvatore MagnisiPayroll Accountant
- Anne ScottPost Production Accountant
- Alan ZweibelProducer
- Jessie NelsonProducer
- Rob ReinerProducer
- Giorgio CatalanoProduction Accountant
- Jason BogardProduction Accountant
- Diane WardProduction Coordinator
- Gabriella Di SantoProduction Coordinator
- Linda E. DegusProduction Secretary
- Carl S. GriffinProduction Supervisor
- Giovanni LovatelliProduction Supervisor
- Joy E. KopaloffPublicist
- Robert GeorgeSecond Assistant Accountant
- Marco OlivieriUnit Manager
- Jeffrey StottUnit Production Manager