✦Elzary
Cinema·5 min read·👀 Watched 2023.07.05

Let's Get Divorced

You choose marriage to step into happiness — and you choose divorce for the same reason. A question even a divorce lawyer has to ask himself: what is marriage, really?

2023 · Romantic Comedy · Fuminori Kaneko, Ryosuke Fukuda, Takuya Sakamoto · Netflix

"You choose marriage to step into happiness — and you choose divorce for the same reason."

Let's Get Divorced tells, in a light and funny way, the story of a celebrity couple long estranged in all but name who can't divorce because of their tangled interests — and who then work together to pull off a smooth "divorce."

Scattered notes

Is there always a domineering mother behind an indecisive child? Japanese dramas describe things so precisely. "That impractical clueless type, whose only merit is his looks." Taishi Shoji is the pampered third-generation of a political dynasty, raised by his mother from childhood to become a legislator — kind-hearted but lacking substance and foresight, surviving on his mother and his aide, a creature of instinct over will, with no accountability and no socialization.

Japanese dramas' exaggerated inner monologues are genuinely fun! The trivial, slightly over-the-top inner drama is hilarious — it adds a lot of comic effect. A drama perfect for relaxed enjoyment.

The recurring "if... then I'll..." lines. Handing the decision on event A to some unrelated event B — is it because you don't actually know what you want, so you can't decide? E.g. "If it rains, I'll start over / break up." Little do they know weather is as hard to read as the human heart — and that turn is fun too, cleverly mirroring both sides' indecision.

What moved me most to tears wasn't actually the divorce talk, but the atmosphere of everyone rallying to win the election, all striving cohesively toward one thing — everyone involved seemed to grow young again, radiating light and vitality.

When a woman in an unhappy marriage she can't leave meets a dashing, "romantic" (read: feckless) drifter — you see no shackles society has placed on him, but he's lost his personal principles as a result.

In the divorce counseling, recalling the moments they were once madly in love — so sweet. So why did the marriage end up so awful? That's the thing this whole drama keeps reminding us of.

"As long as it's not exposed, I'll turn a blind eye — that's what it is to be the wife of a Diet member."

A couple in mediation chatting about their respective affair partners — sure enough, striving toward one thing warms feelings up easily?

What does it mean that it always rains at the crucial moments?

They agreed to divorce if they lost the election — and then they really lost. I kept thinking something would burst out at the last second before handing in the papers, keeping them together to live happily ever after with the kid. But no — they still divorced. In its place: freedom, and lingering attachment. Maybe what you can't have is the most beautiful, just as Yui says: "If you remarry, you'll just cheat again, won't you?" But then she adds: "It's not your problem — it's marriage's problem." Which made me wonder: what is marriage, really? Why get married? A question even a lawyer who's handled countless divorce cases has to ask himself.

The actors' emotional switches are lightning-fast — so professional.

"Why is it that even if you don't want to be born, you don't get a choice?"

That seaside scene has such a beautiful palette — the deep blue sea contrasting with the vivid red railing.

  • The divorce lawyer's "thank you for coming" means real gratitude that the other person had the courage to take the first step.
  • 100%-pure kindness.
  • Growing up in a chaotic, heartless environment, longing to be saved.
  • Kyoji is such a smooth talker (though sometimes feckless too):

    "My work is too expensive — you can't afford it." / "How much?" / "All the free time you have." (heart shot ×1,000,000)

  • "Watching my mother's way of living, I believed from childhood that there's no love in this world, only filthy desire. But after meeting Taishi, I found there's someone this pure and kind — I felt I'd been saved."
  • "Turns out I'm different from my mother. From the bottom of my heart, I hope my eyes hold only him. I want to walk on hand in hand with this person."
  • Whether parenting or politics, you only know once you've done it.
  • For a politician, a flawless image matters more than anything (and then his own son gets photographed cheating 😀).
#series#comedy#netflix
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