Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
Kramer vs. Kramer is anchored by exceptional performances from Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, both of whom won Oscars for roles that feel utterly authentic and unshowy. The plot navigates the emotional terrain of divorce and custody with rare nuance — neither parent is a villain, and the script earns its emotional beats without melodrama. The ending is genuinely affecting and quietly devastating, resisting easy resolution. Cinematography is competent and naturalistic but not distinctive — Gordon Willis's work serves the story without calling attention to itself. Novelty is moderate: the film brought a new seriousness and emotional honesty to domestic drama in Hollywood, but the custody-battle framework was not unprecedented. Overall it remains one of the finest examples of humanist American drama of its era.