The Four Hundred: Malcolm & Marie spares no one

John David Washington and Zendaya Coleman

Passion, love, and hate collide in the newest film, Malcolm & Marie, sparing no one's feelings, not even our own.

The black and white film, directed by Sam Levinson, who is well-known for his HBO series Euphoria, released on Netflix on February 5 and had been in secret production since June 2020. 

Starring exclusively in the film is Euphoria star and Spider-man: Homecoming actress Zendaya Coleman who plays Marie, the girlfriend of a rising filmmaker named Malcolm, played by John David Washington, who starred in films such as The Tenet and The BlackkKlansman. 

Coleman is better known for her Emmy-winning performance in Euphoria, where she plays a recovering drug addict who goes through trials and tribulations that test her mental and emotional strength, which is not dissimilar from her role in Malcolm & Marie.

The entirety of the film does not focus on Coleman's character being a former addict; however, many details of her dark past are revealed in Marie's jarringly painful description of her recovery and rehabilitation.

In one scene, the couple gets into an argument that evolves from Marie being annoyed that Malcolm does not thank her in his premiere speech, to an all-out, emotional, un-filtered battle that reveals their relationship's underlying toxicity, while also offering a macroscale exploration of cinema in relation to representation.

With all punch and no pity, the two go back and forth regarding their appreciation of one another and their dependency on their relationship, bringing up which of their insults left the deepest cuts.

They both dig up the past to hurl nasty jabs at each other that does not shy away from any disdainful topics including Marie’s history of self-harm as well as Malcolm’s fraudulent persona of having ‘roughed it’ while he actually comes from a privileged background.

Revealing what truly bothers her, Marie tells Malcolm that she feels his work exploits her and digs up regret of having cheated on him.

The film revolves around a mere few hours of constant argument, and it is apparent that the love and admiration for one another is there, but the means to construe it gets ugly very fast.

Most significantly, Levinson's choice to bring about such raw topics and emotions speaks on larger truths about power imbalances between couples and even races.

"A lot of the discussions that you and I had about life over the past two years, about collaboration, about representation, about the film industry, found their way into this piece," said director Levinson in an interview with Coleman ahead of the film's release.  

Deeper discussions ensue when Malcolm begins ranting about the fact that film critics focus way too much on a director's identity and how that influences the message and mood of the film, which he calls "Bullshit!"

Controversies on representation and race are not new to the entertainment industry, but what this movie brought to the surface was the issue with Hollywood headlines putting heavy emphasis on race when there so happens to be diversity of color in films and TV shows. Begging the question of whether or not the simple appearance of a person of color morphs a story from an in-depth character study to a soapbox on race.

"Just 'cause the film doesn't star anybody that looks like her, doesn't mean it's political," Malcolm notes about the LA Times critic. 

The whole scene with Malcolm fuming over the LA Times review boils down to Marie's words about Hollywood actors, but not without also taking a jab at the inherent truth in that the entertainment industry may rush very well to make such a piece political to generate more readership. 

Marie brings up that actors and actresses can make statements about socialism or political activism, and entertainment outlets will rush to become an ally in the movement, "Not because they actually care or want to spread the message, but because they know that there's nothing that sells more than disgust."  Later saying, "This is some only-in-America, ho-ass shit." 

While both characters make notable points about the film industry, it does not shield Malcolm’s self-centeredness in yet again making the whole night an argument about himself and his film, when it began with the lack of appreciation for Marie.

Director Levinson suggests that their dynamic as a couple of harrows down to one line said by Marie in the last 20 minutes of the movie, ". . .the problem she has with you as a filmmaker is the same problem I have with you as a partner."

Like how the LA Times writer criticizes his use of nudity in one scene as "going too far," Marie agrees that Malcolm needs to consider that dash of femininity when directing or just speaking with her with compassion.

And repeatedly, we see Malcolm listening to Marie's argument but not truly listening. His defensiveness reveals his narcissism to which Marie is in a constant battle. 

Their verbal and emotional abuse gives light to complicated relationship structures in that as much passion as they have for hating one another just goes to show how much their magnetic attraction towards one another.

As she sits and watches his premiere, she can't help but feel exploited, with the darkest parts of her life projected onto a screen for all to see. While audiences and critics praise Malcolm for his ability to tell such a raw story, Marie feels left alone to continue to struggle with the consequences of addiction and rehabilitation. 

All Marie wanted was appreciation and, throughout the film, we can see that her frustration grows as Malcolm remains unwilling to share her perspective or listen to her story that became the basis of his 'knock-out' film. 

This not only brings up a conversation about women being cast in the shadow by their male counterparts in Hollywood but the overall underrepresentation of female perspective within the male-dominated entertainment industry. 

However, it also sheds light on the way that Marie blames him for every supposed ‘Marie knock-off’ he included in his film when in actuality, he drew from many sources to curate the film he premiered that night.

Her obsession to win the fight then reveals her narcissism of maintaining the view that his world has to revolve around her and there can’t be any other person who inspired the film.

These two make for a toxic couple definitely, but ultimately we could see in the end that the two exhausted themselves with constant argument and came out of it with some lessons learned.

Malcolm & Marie not only gives viewers the vivacity and passion of Coleman and Washington's acting but some criticisms of the film industry on a larger scale that leaves us pondering one question: when will change come?