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Malcolm & Marie Movie Review

Malcolm & Marie is a 2021 romantic drama film directed by Sam Levinson and starring Zendaya and John David Washington. It’s a phenomenal, very underrated movie.

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“And that, Malcolm, is what authenticity buys you“

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A rising movie director returns with his girlfriend to their apartment after a successful premiere. Then, tensions start to mount as she accuses him of being narcissistic and not having thanked her during his speech. The two start to fight and most of the movie consists of their arguing back and forth. Clearly inspired by ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe’, though not as amazing obviously, this film appealed to me personally as I just adore these stagy, one-setting movies that rely on dialogue throughout. And if you throw in fighting, then I am bound to have a great time.

Most of the critics did not care for this movie, so I am clearly in the minority when I say that I genuinely loved it. What impressed me the most was its relatability factor. Many of the conversations and arguments that the two had here I’ve personally experienced myself in my relationship, so unexpectedly I related to both characters, but especially Marie.

It was a bit problematic that the movie clearly portrayed her as being the victim in their relationship or at least the one who has every right to be mad. I wished for a more complicated dynamic as this way it was easy for me to take her side throughout the film. He did raise some great points, but overall it was evident that he is overly full of himself and clearly too dominant in this relationship where he wants to triumph over her girlfriend in every possible way.

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Thus, their relationship is immensely toxic and it was even difficult to believe that they were ever in love. Still, that was the point as these types of relationships do exist and the film cleverly showcases how sometimes two people just stay together for way too long. The dialogue is truly the star of this picture as we get a lot of it, not in every single scene, but in the majority at least. Although that one scene where he yelled at the critics was over-the-top and cringy, most of the other conversations about Hollywood, the critics and the media were powerful and the film’s treatment of sex and domination was also very intriguing.

The acting here is truly incredible. First and foremost, let’s talk about John David Washington. He surprised me here as he was quite competent and much more memorable than he had been before. I’ve found him overrated and not that great of an actor, but he is definitely improving and in this film his performance is the first very good one.

But Zendaya entirely triumphed over him. Previously appearing in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, its sequel and also ‘The Greatest Showman’, this is very first performance of hers in a genuinely dramatic, serious movie, and she delivered in spades. It’s a breakout performance as she plays so amazingly this fragile, somewhat timid, submissive girl who is the polar opposite of her partner. There are scenes here where just her eyes showed so much pain and sadness that it was truly a transformative experience.

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Malcolm & Marie is also gorgeously shot. The movie is not just stagy, but genuinely cinematic and even artistic in certain moments where the camera captured such striking imagery with that ending being particularly memorable. The movie is sensual, very well directed, well edited and the costume work was also indelible. The dialogue could have flown a bit better, but overall I admired this movie and it deserves much better reception in my opinion.