Taglines: There are three sides to this love story!
Kramer vs. Kramer movie storyline. Up and coming New York advertising executive Ted Kramer believes that his role and responsibility to his family is to be the household breadwinner, which means a focus on career. Joanna Kramer, his wife of eight years, is relegated to role of housewife and mother to their five and a half year old son, Billy Kramer, as Ted doesn’t want her to work outside the house.
As such, Joanna, on the encouragement of Margaret Phelps, a recent divorcée in their apartment building and one of Joanna’s primary confidantes, decides to abandon the marriage, and leave Billy with Ted, as she feels she can’t properly take care of Billy in her current fragile mental state. Ted believes that Joanna is solely going through a phase, and that she will return home in a day or two, which she doesn’t. So, Ted has to make some major adjustments in his life.
Beyond the time of fitting in Joanna’s duties into his work schedule, Ted is ill equipped to take care of the household chores and be Billy’s sole caregiver, which is made more difficult as Billy has his own ill feelings about the entire situation. Ted and Billy go through a difficult period in learning how to deal with each other.
As father and son, but the relationship eventually blossoms into a truly loving one, with Margaret being one of their biggest supporters. Two issues threaten Ted and Billy’s new-found familial happiness: the negative effect his new time priority with Billy has on maintaining a productive work life, and the arrival fifteen months later of a newly confidant Joanna, who wants custody of her son.
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American legal drama film written and directed by Robert Benton, based on Avery Corman’s novel. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander and Justin Henry. It tells the story of a couple’s divorce, its impact on their young son, and the subsequent evolution of their relationship and views on parenting.
The film explores the psychology and fallout of divorce and touches upon prevailing or emerging social issues such as gender roles, women’s rights, parity of parents’ rights, work–life balance, and the single parent experience.
Kramer vs. Kramer was theatrically released on December 19, 1979 by Columbia Pictures. It was a major critical and commercial success, grossing $106.3 million on a $8 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1979 and received a leading nine Oscar nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards, winning five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (for Streep), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Directed by: Robert Benton
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry, Howard Duff, JoBeth Williams, Howland Chamberlain, Nicholas Hormann, Ellen Parker, Nicholas Hormann, Carol Nadell
Screenplay by: Robert Benton
Production Design by: Paul Sylbert
Cinematography by: Néstor Almendros
Film Editing by: Gerald B. Greenberg
Costume Design by: Ruth Morley
Set Decoration by: Alan Hicks
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: December 19, 1979
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