Kramer vs. Kramer

Kramer vs. Kramer (released December 17, 1979)

Directed by: Robert Benton

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander

Produced by: Richard Fischoff, Stanley R. Jaffe

Written by: Avery Corman (novel), Robert Benton

Music by: Paul Gemignani, Herb Harris, John Kander, Erma E. Levin, Roy B. Yokelson, Antonio Vivaldi

Cinematography by: Nestor Almendros

Distributed by: Columbia Pictures

A “Small Film” in Name Only

I thought the one of most astounding aspects of the 1979 Best Picture winner, Kramer vs. Kramer was that the story itself didn’t degenerate into the farcical. I might be getting too cynical in my advancing age, but in remaking this film I could very well imagine today’s version having Billy Kramer, the child, prattling on with pages and pages of much-too-clever, mature dialog, and contain a courtroom scene that would play out much longer and display much more meanness between the characters than the scene would ordinarily demand. Indeed, the beauty of the film was the balanced portrayal of how painful divorce can be for all involved. Believe it or not there was a certain amount of subtleness and deftness to this film which I think is lost on a lot of filmmakers today. It seems in movies nowadays there has to be an overabundance of just about everything, be it plot devices, character traits, edits, you name it. Kramer vs Kramer was as the producers themselves remarked: “a small movie” and thank goodness they kept it that way.

Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in their roles as the feuding couple brought an amazing level of realism to the story, but the most challenging thing about the film was in casting eight-year old Justin Henry as the child caught in the middle. The producers scored a coup with that decision. Without his truly believable acting, the film would have not had the resonance it otherwise enjoys to this day. The story develops naturally as a new life is imposed upon father and son after the separation and divorce. It’s not always pretty, but it rings true and I must admit the scene at the hospital where Billy gets stitched up after a fall in the park as too painful to watch (it is too reminiscent of a similar event involving my young nephew).

Kramer vs. Kramer is a movie that explores the raw emotions involved in family break-ups and because it does so in such a faithful and unbiased way, it remains a powerful film and one that justifiably earned its awards.

--kak

“Don’t Leave Me, Mommy…”

Oh God, I had no idea this movie was going to be so wrenching. I knew vaguely it was about divorce, and I thought it was going to be an ugly courtroom battle. And there was an ugly courtroom battle, but it was only a small part of the movie. The rest of the movie was taken up by Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry digging my heart out of my chest with a spoon. There was no weeping, but there was definite moaning and wailing directed at the TV, and maybe a tear or two.

Dustin Hoffman plays Ted Kramer, an ad executive who is making it big in NYC and is on the cusp of greatness. He lands the biggest account of his life, and when he arrives home to share the news with his wife, Joanna (played by the amazing Meryl Streep) she announces she’s leaving him. And not only is she leaving, but she is also leaving behind their five-year-old son, Billy.  She says as she is getting on the elevator that she doesn’t think she is any good for him, and he would be better off without her. Those are some powerful words. And I sat there wondering, “What kind of woman would leave her child?” I found out later, and it wasn’t the answer I was expecting.

Ted is left alone with a son he barely knows and has to care for him when he is used to spending 10+ hours a day at the office. Reality hits him hard, but I was very gratified to see his character man up and do the right thing. He learns how to do all the things necessary to be mother and father to Billy, and he gets his priorities in order. There is some comedy in Ted trying to learn how to take care of his son, making jury-rigged French toast, and such, but mostly it was pretty serious.

And in the courtroom where Joanna and Ted battle for the custody of Billy we discover why Joanna felt she must leave Billy behind. Joanna had gone through a terrible depression that had left her so low and stripped of any self-worth she truly thought she was harming her son by staying and being a mother to him. After she sought therapy she was able to get her head on straight and realize she wasn’t a terrible person. When Ted and Joanna tell their stories before the court, they both realize just how hard the other person had it, which surprised them. Ted was shocked that Joanna was on the edge of a nervous breakdown and he had never noticed, and Joanna never realized what Ted had to go through trying to tell Billy where his mother had gone.

Included on the disc was a small documentary on the making of the movie, which I watched after we viewed the film. It was probably done 10 years ago, and was interesting to see what Justin Henry looked like as an adult. But the most interesting comment to me was one Meryl Streep made about it being such a small movie. And I know what she means. Today we have movies that are epic in their scope and have huge casts of characters, elaborate sets, and spend millions and millions of dollars. Hell, DeMille did that in the 50’s with his The Greatest Show on Earth. But this movie is small – it has only a few characters, and it focuses on what would seemingly be a small subject: divorce. Everyone knows the divorce rate is 50%. People do it all the time. And yet someone went to the trouble to make a movie about the intimate landscape of divorce and exactly what it did to a specific family. And I think that was why this film was such a success. Everyone on some level can relate to it.

Whether you come from a broken home or not, you are probably close to someone who does. I myself am lucky in that my parents will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in November. But some of my best friends across my life have parents who were divorced (or should have been), and seeing this movie was like having a ringside seat as to exactly what that is like. For those of us who have experienced it first hand as an adult or a child, I am sure it was even more of an identifying experience.

This movie showed me that the smallest, most mundane things about life can be the most riveting, if we can just present them the right way. If the entire human population can identify with your story, and you have a crackerjack list of actors, you really can’t go wrong. It can be small, and it can be spare, and it can move you to tears and break your heart because you know it is authentic.

~Anna   

Up next: Mrs. Miniver (1942)