Company (1996)
First off, this isn't a film, per se. It is a recording of a staged production. So the sound is kind of off and the visuals aren't the best. Or is that because I'm watching it on YouTube? No, I think it's the less-than-top-notch production. But since this is my first viewing of the show in any form, I'm happy to see it in its original idea-- a stage production, and I'm sitting there as an audience member with the occasional ability to see faces close up.
It seems so loud and brash, especially at the beginning. I am so uncomfortable for our protagonist, Bobby, who is pushed and prodded and cajoled by his various married friends. As the relationships progress, we realize that he wants the attention, that he is desperately lonely and he is deeply concerned with each of his friends. The five marriages are each given a spotlight, and each are disturbing in their own funny way. But this is less of a comedy and more of an examination, or an interrogation, of marriage itself. Is marriage a worthwhile prospect, given that each marriage is both bad and good in its own way? There is companionship, but also a forced quality, where no one is allowed to be themselves. But neither does Bobby feel that he can be himself.
Which is why the song, Being Alive, is the perfect synopsis for this musical and wraps it up perfectly. Companionship is a contradiction and we must live with it because we don't live well without it. Or that is the approach of the show. I wish they had explored more about the economic necessity of marriage. What they clearly side-stepped was children, as if they didn't really matter. But I think that is because there is so little time. They want to explore marriage as a solution to companionship, as a pill for happiness. It's pretty fair, I suppose.
4/5
EDIT: I didn't mention it in the review, but I wonder if Company can ever be seen without considering A Marriage Story with it? Although only focusing on a single marriage, I wonder if it does a more complete job. I will say this, because I understand the context of Being Alive better, I think I understand A Marriage Story a little better, as if that film were a coda or sequel to this one.