Wealthy Erica Benton from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after Martin, her husband of sixteen years, leaves her for a younger woman.Wealthy Erica Benton from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after Martin, her husband of sixteen years, leaves her for a younger woman.Wealthy Erica Benton from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after Martin, her husband of sixteen years, leaves her for a younger woman.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 6 wins & 18 nominations total
- Sue
- (as Pat Quinn)
- Cabbie
- (as Chico Martinez)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDr. Penelope Russianoff, who plays Erica (Jill Clayburgh)'s therapist Tanya, was an actual practicing psychologist. The counseling sessions were filmed in her actual penthouse apartment on West 86th Street in New York, where she saw her patients. She worked for two and a half days and was paid US $2500. She was cast after having been recommended to director Paul Mazursky by "Girlfriends" (1978) director Claudia Weill. Russianoff said that she improvised most of her dialogue, which was based on the type of therapy she gave her patients. After the movie was launched, Russianoff became a mini-celebrity. She said the role gave her "instant celebrity-hood," being recognized on the streets of New York, where she signed autographs, and got a number of new clients. She wrote several self-help books in the 1980s, including "Why Do I Think I Am Nothing Without a Man?" (1988), a book first published about a decade after this film, but with a title and subject matter that were reflective of this picture.
- GoofsThe boom is clearly visible for several seconds during the art gallery scene.
- Quotes
[first lines]
[Martin and Erica are jogging along the river]
Martin: Jesus Christ! Look at this! My sneaker's ruined!
Erica: They're only $35.
[Erica takes Martin's shoe and cleans it off for him]
Martin: Fucking city's turning into one big pile of DOG SHIT!
[shouting at passing traffic]
Martin: Come on out and take a crap on me--everybody else is. Fuck!
[Martin lights a cigarette]
Erica: ...been jogging for 2 1/2 miles - you're giving yourself lung cancer.
Martin: I'll tell you something, Erica: the longer I'm married to you, the more you sound like my mother.
Erica: Clean your own sneaker.
[throws shoe at Martin]
Martin: I think you wanted me to step in it.
Erica: [laughing] You're going crazy, Martin.
Martin: I am?
Erica: [laughing] Yes.
[Martin tosses his shoe over his shoulder into the river. Erica jogs away, and Martin jogs after]
- Crazy creditsFor Betsy
- SoundtracksSwan Lake, Op.20
(1877) (uncredited)
Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Excerpts danced by Jill Clayburgh
"Scenes from a Marriage". Throughout the film we are introduced to one terrific personality after another--each distinctively drawn. From her affluent circle of friends, to the quirky, genuinely intriguing artistic types of the downtown art scene (Soho before it became SO commercial), to the assorted people she
meets on her journey of coping and understanding such as her therapist
(portrayed by the great psychologist and author, Penelope Russianoff, who was a fixture on New York's Upper Westside for years), we are treated to a wealth of fascinating characters. The movie resonates with warmth and understanding.
Jill Clayburgh's Erika is a contemporary tragic/comic heroine. She's beautiful and classy and funny and her emotions--for anyone who has gone through
divorce or separation or simply difficult marital situations--are absolutely dead- on accurate. What is very interesting some 25 years after the movie debuted is that it has not aged one single bit--the characters remain delightful, the
emotions as real as ever, and the New York milieu as varied and fascinating as it still is today (and probably always has been.) A great, entertaining, and endearing film!
- middleburg
- Jun 10, 2004
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Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $24,000,000
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