Remaking a Marriage

Early in Scenes from a Marriage, it's clear Mira (Jessica Chastain) is hiding something. Her husband, Jonathan (Oscar Isaac), senses something is awry but has no idea that his world is about to implode.

This is an all-new Scenes from a Marriage. Not the Ingmar Bergman classic, released in 1973 as a six-part Swedish miniseries starring Liv Ulmann and Erland Josephson, then reedited as a theatrical release.

Now modernized as a five-part miniseries — written, directed and executive-produced by Hagai Levi (In Treatment, The Affair) — it premiered on HBO and HBO Max September 12.

As a teen, Levi was captivated by the original and today cites Bergman as a major influence. "It was one of the most remarkable moments of my life," when Bergman's family asked him to tackle this project about seven years ago, Levi recalls. "It took me a lot of years to decide to do it. But then again, I felt that I couldn't let go; it's too close, and too important emotionally, to my life."

And so he made it his.

While Levi retains the plot of a marriage ending, he flips the couple's roles. Now, Mira, a tech executive, is the one walking out — and leaving their four- year-old daughter. Jonathan, a philosophy professor at Tufts, is gobsmacked.

"I think it's a very, very interesting experiment in gender," Levi says.

In the 1973 version, Levi notes, "When he left, for instance, like overnight, you hated him. You feel her pain much, much, much more. But, for a man to desert a child is totally different; when a woman does, maybe it's shocking."

From the first episode, the story feels contemporary as the couple faces a major decision: whether to end a pregnancy. Jonathan is supportive, saying everything a feminist man should. Mira remains conflicted, foreshadowing the drama to come. "It's painful, wanting something and not wanting it at the same time," she confesses.

A brief, behind-the-scenes opening sequence places the shoot during the pandemic. Actors walk on set, and they and the crew are masked. Chastain and Isaac, both executive producers, then fall into character. (Pals since Juilliard, they last teamed in the 2014 film A Most Violent Year.)

Scenes from a Marriage takes viewers behind closed bedroom doors to gut-wrenching moments when the couple's talks leave them spent. There's an intimacy deeper than sex, and that same emotional rawness thrummed through the original.

"I am terrified by comparisons," Levi admits. "The question was, why do it? It's there. The moment I had the idea of swapping it, it felt like I have a good reason to do that. Always, when you touch a masterpiece, it's frightening. But I learned to hate the original. I had to, in order to get out of the original and just explore my own."

This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, Issue No. 11, 2021