Netflix Romance Is Controversial Director’s Best Work

Malcolm & Marie was written and directed by Sam Levinson, and broke barriers by serving as the very first major Hollywood film to be produced and filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down much of the film industry throughout 2020. The film contains performances from only two actors, Tenet’s John David Washington and Zendaya, who previously starred in Levinson’s Euphoria series. The film was shot entirely in one location, in a private California home, after the production team received special limited permissions from the Writers Guild, Directors Guild, and SAG-AFTRA to shoot in the midst of the pandemic. 

Billed as a messy relationship study that plays out in real time, Malcolm & Marie centers on the eponymous young couple, John David Washington’s Malcolm and Zendaya’s Marie. After returning home from the premiere of Malcolm’s latest directorial effort, the up-and-coming filmmaker eagerly awaits the opening night reviews, as Marie begins to sulk. After prompting Marie to express her feelings, the pair become embroiled in a heated argument regarding Malcolm’s choice not to thank or acknowledge Marie during his speech at the opening night event.

As the film carries on, Malcolm and Marie go through a wide array of emotions, bouncing from a drunken post-premiere celebration to a massive blow-out argument, and everywhere in between. The only thing that seems to place their fight on pause is the reveal that Malcolm’s new film has received its first glowing review, which Malcolm manages to find highly insulting through some staggering mental gymnastics.

Since Malcolm & Marie is so contained and concise in its scope, the true star of the movie is the dialogue, as both Zendaya and John David Washington launch into multiple poetically-penned tirades about the state of art, nature, life, love, and the human experience. The film’s dialogue somehow manages to be nearly Shakespearean, while also feeling incredibly genuine and relatable. Sam Levinson has a tendency to venture into pretentious territory with much of his dialogue in other projects, though that never becomes the case here.

Personally, I tried to get into Euphoria back when the second season premiered in 2022, and ultimately found the melodramatic writing, overly serious acting, and bizarrely adult themes to be really tiring. Malcolm & Marie shines because the language of Levinson’s pen is being espoused by two grown adults who have the capacity for deep thought, rather than a few drugged-out teenagers who believe that their high school relationship will be the make-or-break moment of their entire lives.

GFR SCORE

If you’ve ever had one of those nights where you stay up way too late fussing and fighting with your partner, just to get over it, get sidetracked, and go right back to fighting again, Malcolm & Marie is a movie that you need to watch today. Malcolm & Marie is currently streaming on Netflix for those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of catching the intimate peak behind the couples’ curtain.