The 1930s and ‘40s were the golden age of the ‘remarriage comedy’. The Drama and The Invite are their dark progeny

The nineteen-thirties and forties produced what film scholars call 'remarriage comedies' — romantic films where couples facing divorce would charm their way back together through witty banter and clever play. Two films this year, The Drama and The Invite, reimagine that template for an era obsessed with psychological truth-telling. As film scholar Audrey Mitchell reports, these contemporary versions emphasize therapy-speak and emotional interrogation where their predecessors relied on wit and silent companionship. Mitchell raises a question worth considering: what can modern couples relearn from the simpler, quieter art of simply being together?

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