Review of Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) by Stefanie R — 22 Nov 2014

Robert Benton, a man from Texas whose previous screen writing credits include "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) and "Superman" (1978), had a very different and difficult task to achieve when he adapted the screenplay for "Kramer vs.

Kramer." This is a story that, to tell correctly, demands perfect balance. The movie can lean to one Kramer's perspective, alternately Hoffman's character or Streep's, but it can never consign the other to a mere antagonist role: each has to be completely sympathetic and redeemable even when they are at their lowest or potentially in the wrong.

The equation becomes more complicated when role-reversal is involved. If Hoffman's Kramer is any more or less capable a caregiver to their 7 year-old than Streep's Kramer, or if hers is any more or less driven to succeed in business than his, the balance and the film's message of equality become compromised.

At the same time, if they are too perfectly malleable as characters they cease to be true-to-life and therefore lose their relevance as tools of social commentary; their clearly-delineated roles-a dissatisfied wife and a career-driven husband-are what determine the kinds of challenges each face, and their respective arcs remain linked to these initial identities even as they subvert their usual meanings and transcend their presumed limitations.

Toward the end, Benton indulges in some overwrought courtroom theatrics ("OBJECTION!" "Overruled!"), and the resolution of the story is ultimately a bit of a cop-out, but it can be argued that these decisions also point to his wisdom as a screenwriter inasmuch as the film's message had already been conveyed and all that was left was to leave the audience as happy and entertained as they were (hopefully) enlightened.

Aspiring screenwriters may find much to admire and emulate in Benton's delicate, unflinching, yet broadly accessible achievement.