In the opening episode of Marriage, husband and wife Ian and Emma clean up after having their daughter, Jess, and her new boyfriend, Adam, over for dinner. We watch as food is silently scraped from plates into the compost bucket, knives and forks are rinsed and put in the dishwasher, and empty cans put in the recycling. Only once the table is cleared and the dishwasher loaded, and the pair are preparing for bed, is the verdict on Adam finally delivered: “I hated his f***ing face,” says Emma.
This new drama from award-winning writer Stefan Golaszewski (Him & Her, Mum) is an intimate portrait of a 27-year-old partnership. It is also among the most wilfully mundane depictions of marriage ever committed to the screen. Ian and Emma – played by Sean Bean and Nicola Walker – appear content enough, though they are past the stage where they feel the need to show it. Much of their communication takes place via the weird telepathy that often exists between long-term couples, meaning that entire scenes pass by wordlessly. Time stretches out as we see them sort through their post, or watch TV while sharing a packet of prawn crackers, or declutter the spare room. Irritation bubbles up by way of hissed asides or heavy sighs, each bearing the weight of old arguments they can’t be bothered to rehash. Ian and Emma’s long silences sometimes feel cosy and endearing, but at other times are uncomfortable. The Pinter pause has got nothing on this.
