There are good and even some very good films that are passionately disliked by critics, cinephiles and film scholars simply for taking awards that should have gone to the films perceived to be more deserving. One such example can be found in Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979 drama written and directed by Robert Benton, which won “Oscar” instead of Apocalypse Now.
The protagonist of this film, based on the best-selling novel by Avery Korman, is Ted Kramer (played by Dustin Hoffman), successful New York advertising executive who neglected his family life and is completely unaware of his wife Joanna (played by Meryl Streep) being frustrated and deeply unhappy with marriage. Things reach point in which she suffers nervous breakdown and suddenly leaves both Ted and their 7-year old son Billy (played by Justin Henry). Ted, taken completely by surprise and lacking domestic skills, experiences difficulties meeting the challenges of single parenthood. However, after a while he gradually develops strong bond with a boy and completely dedicates his life to him, even at the expense of his career, which would ultimately lead to new and less-paid job. It is at that moment when Joanna triumphantly returns from California after successfully rebuilding her life as a well-to-do career woman. She demands Ted to give her custody of Billy, which Ted refuses, leading to an exhausting court battle in which Joanna, as child’s mother, has strong advantage.
Kramer vs. Kramer achieved something quite rare these days by being the film that both won “Oscar” and became box-office champion. Its popularity might be at first difficult to explain, because its low budget, simple story, minimalist style and exploration of some serious and potentially depressive subjects, is in many ways anti-thesis of a Hollywood blockbuster. Film nevertheless struck a chord with the audience, at least those affected with new social and cultural phenomena like the collapse of values and nuclear family, divorce becoming common and losing its previous stigma or the new feminist paradigms about career being more or equally important as family. Kramer vs. Kramer dealt with those issues in a clever way, by subverting the gender stereotypes and turning a father into single parent and, subsequently, a mother into villain. This is the reason why this film was criticised as anti-feminist and even misogynistic and why its reputation might further suffer in our “woke” times.
However, even without its cultural and historic context, Kramer vs. Kramer is a very fine piece of cinema. Robert Benton is better known as screenwriter than director and in this film he wisely chose not to experiment. Instead he allowed the cast and crew to do most of the work. This included famed cinematographer Nestor Almendros who recognised this film as warm and intimate family story and utilised appropriate colours. But the most impressive was the cast, most notably Dustin Hoffman, who delivered another strong performance, partially inspired by a messy divorce he was going through in his real life. Meryl Streep was also excellent in the film and her performance, which allowed audience to see story from her character’s point of view, allowed Joanna to transcend the simplistic archetype of a villain. Hoffman and Streep didn’t go along well at the set, and Kramer vs. Kramer production is still subject of controversy over alleged bullying and harassment. But on the screen two of them, just as young Justin Henry (who would abandon acting in his adult life), did wonderful job. Hoffman won “Oscar” for Best Actor while Streep won “Oscar” for Best Supporting Actress, and anyone watching this film would probably agree with Academy’s choice.
Kramer vs. Kramer, however, isn’t the perfect film. Benton, in an attempt to emphasise realism of the story, chose not to have conventional soundtrack but only replaced it with classical music, which at times looks too “artsy” and pretentious. There are some scenes and subplots that this film could do without, like Ted’s brief affair with character played by JoBeth Williams that leads to brief nude scene which is both funny and gratuitous. The ending could be interpreted as authors succumbing to sentimentality and Hollywood conventions and, as such, compromises film’s realism to a certain degree. But, in the end, Kramer vs. Kramer is still a very good film, regardless of whether there were better films that year.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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