Despite tensions, Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman gave strong performances in Kramer vs. Kramer

Great acting by Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as a divorcing couple, and an unusually sensitive screen­play that presents both sides in a sympathetic light make Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) a super­lative domestic drama.

Directed by American screenwriter Robert Benton, who won an Oscar for co-writing the classic Bonnie and Clyde (1967), the film works hard to establish the characters as living, breathing people with human foibles, contradictions and peccadilloes. The director and cast, who were hands-on in creating their roles, ensure the film is even-handed and thoughtful right to the final frame.

Although it is generally thought of as a divorce drama, Kramer vs. Kramer is equally about a negligent father learning how to bond with his young son. Ted Kramer (Hoffman) is a workaholic New York advert­ising executive who comes home from work one day to find his wife, Joanna (Streep), is leaving him and their young son, Billy (Justin Henry), to go and “find herself”.

Ted slowly adapts to the situation, but single parenthood causes him problems at work, as he has less time to spend in the office. He chooses to put his child first and begins to enjoy their new-found relationship. When Joanna returns to New York and wants Billy back, a showdown in a court-room ensues.

The film copes with the big question – how can one sympathise with a mother who leaves her son? – adroitly. Joanna was originally written as a selfish person, a characterisation preferred by Hoffman, who was going through a real divorce with actress Anne Byrne during the shooting. But Streep realised that for the film to work, the audi­ence had to feel sympathy for both husband and wife.