‘By the Sea’ trailer: Marriage on the rocks in Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt drama

The last time Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made a movie together, they played married spies trying to blow each other up in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

Now, the first trailer has arrived for “By the Sea,” which reunites the real-life couple on screen with fewer pyrotechnics and deeper emotional stakes.

Written and directed by Jolie Pitt, as she is now known, “By the Sea” concerns an American writer and his wife who arrive in a seaside resort in 1970s France with their marriage on the rocks.

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Jolie Pitt has said the film is inspired by European cinema and theater of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the one-minute teaser establishes the throwback vibe with a vintage Universal Pictures logo.

Set to Harry Nilsson’s melancholy tune “Perfect Day,” the video is more atmospheric than expository, offering glimpses of mustachioed Roland (Pitt) as he struggles to put pen to paper and languid Vanessa (Jolie Pitt) as she stares into the void.

Things come to a head as he asks, “Are we ever going to talk about it? … Do you hate me?”

“You know my reason,” she replies ominously.

Given “By the Sea’s” starry pairing on the one hand and its self-consciously old-school, art-housey approach to drama on the other, it will be interesting to see how the film lands with audiences and awards voters. The film opens Nov. 13.

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