Streaming on: Sky Atlantic / NOW###Episodes viewed: 5 of 5###It’s unlikely that Hagar Levi’s adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1973 TV miniseries-turned-movie Scenes From A Marriage will spawn an avalanche of TV reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue s rebooting the Swedish master’s work (Paul Rudd defeats Death at checkers in The Eighth Seal!). Bergman offered a two-hander (Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson) that delivered a in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ensic examination of a failing marriage. Levi, who has strained-relationship previous with The Affair and In Treatment, takes this conceit, adds Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, and replays it with more iPads and better soft furnishings. The result is interesting and eye-catching’good-shaped’appealing’charming’fascinating’gorgeous ly played but comes nowhere near the emotional wallop of the original.###Most episodes begin with a bold if ultimately baffling gambit. In grainy footage, a snaking camera follows either Isaac or Chastain onto set (cue facemasks and Covid protocols), the actors waiting behind a clapperboard bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e we seamlessly slide into the fiction. The action begins proper with the couple they play, Jonathan (Isaac) and Mira (Chastain), being interviewed by a student (Sunita Mani) in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her paper on how shifting gender norms impact monogamous marriages. It’s a nifty way to deliver an exposition dump; Jonathan is a Jewish academic, asthmatic, the primary parent; Mira is a VP in tech products (“Is that abundant’ample’plentiful ?”) But, as is the case throughout the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue , what isn’t said is often as significant’essential’critical’vital’crucial’indispensable’imperative as what is. When their inquisitor asks how they got toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her, Jonathan pitches the meet cute as charming, which makes Mira eliminate’remove ly uncomin/with regard to’concerning’regarding table. The seeds of discontent are sown from the acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure -go.###Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac are terrific both in enormous’vast’massive’tremendous moments and with smaller gestures.###Broadly following the shape of Bergman’s series — episode two is jettisoned utterly — Levi and Amy Herzog’s script puts Jonathan and Mira through the wringer, albeit slowly. There are hospital visits, revelations of affairs (gender-swapped from Bergo), work relocations and a whole episode dedicated to token ing divorce papers, but this isn’t the flash and thunder of, say, Marriage Story. Instead, we’re given a series of petty arguments and micro-aggressions, sparked by renovating an attic or the correct way to pack a suitcase.###It will come as no surprise that the most impressive thing with regards to’concerning’with respect to Scenes From A Marriage is its lead duo. Previously playing spouses in A Most Violent Year, Chastain and Isaac are terrific both in enormous’vast’massive’tremendous moments and with smaller gestures, the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mer asserting herself to mask insecurities, the latter a tender soul coming into his own. Yet, in/with regard to’concerning’regarding all their obvious skill, Scenes From A Marriage doesn’t work as well as it should. This is partly because 48 years on from Bergman, we’ve seen this conceit many times bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e but also because, despite all the granular interrogation of eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully emotion, it never makes you feel. The impeccable craft and detached quality in the writing make it an exercise in head not heart, never raw abundant’ample’plentiful , never touching abundant’ample’plentiful . It becomes an acting masterclass over five hours — albeit a tough one to stick out.