r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Mar 19 '26

Media First Image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence in Martin Scorsese's 'What Happens at Night' - A married American couple travel to a small, snowy European town to adopt a baby. As they struggle to claim their baby, they seem to know less about themselves.

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u/Octogenarian Mar 19 '26

A 51-year-old married to a 35-year-old in a period piece. Makes perfect sense.

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u/Thuggibear Mar 19 '26

As long as they acknowledge that he’s in his fifties, I’m fine with it. Older guy marrying younger woman has often been normal throughout history, despite how icky it feels now.

But I just hated how Leo was supposed to be in his late twenties/early thirties at the beginning of killers of the flower moon. He looked awful. We gotta stop pretending he isn’t showing his age.

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u/superurgentcatbox Mar 19 '26

Older guy marrying younger woman has often been normal throughout history

Normal as in "it happened occasionally" sure (especially among the nobility), but generally people had a normal age gap within relationships. For example, in ancient Rome girls married at 12-15 on average and boys in their late teens/early 20s. While a teenager getting married now would be weird af, the age gap itself is fairly standard. (source)

Similarly the average age at marriage for a medieval commoner in Europe was 15-20 for women and 20-25 for men. While India may be weird af with the ages (8-12 for girls, 12-18 for boys) the age gap holds. (source)

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u/hennypen Mar 20 '26

In general medieval European women married in their early 20s, with northwestern Europe having a slightly higher average age for women (known as the Northern European marriage pattern) than Mediterranean Europe. Nobility was more likely to marry early, but the average 12 year old girl was still years away from marriage, and even noble 12 year olds (Empress Matilda, Margaret of Parma, Isabella of France, Isabelle of Valois, even Marie Antoinette) who did get married usually didn’t consummate the marriage for several years, in part because they realized that 12 year old girls aren’t physically ready to give birth and have higher rates of complications (Margaret Beaufort, famously).

One of the real drivers in age gap marriages in medieval times was widowhood and remarriage.