marriage in collapse

Films where an existing marriage or long-term domestic partnership is the central dramatic engine of active deterioration, rupture, or dissolution — the collapse of the marital bond is what the film is fundamentally about, not a backdrop or symptom of something else. Distinct from family-dynamics (which centers the broader family system, not the spousal pair specifically) by requiring the marital relationship itself to be the primary subject. Distinct from emotionally-devastating (a tonal register) by being a subject-matter category — a marriage-in-collapse film can be cold, satirical, or even darkly comic.