Revolutionary Road

Director: Sam Mendes
Genre: Drama
Year: 2008

Right off the top of my head I would say this was one of the best films of 2008 and it goes to explain the number of nominations and awards it received, though disappointingly, that list does not include Best Picture. Given that the field was five and and that I have not watched every nominated film yet, it would be unfair of me to make any criticism on the matter, save for the fact that I did see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I do think this film is better than that one.

In any case, you are now looking at a very powerful drama directed by Sam Mendes (Jarhead, American Beauty) and with moving performances delivered by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in one of their best roles to date. While less shocking in content, than Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, Revolutionary Road does carry with it a terrible amount of depression, melancholy and emotion in the way it paints the Wheeler’s marriage, which is realistically troubled and sadly headed on a downward spiral when their one aspiration, their one balloon of hope is shot down by unexpected circumstances. Plans fall apart, dreams shatter and the resentment on the part of both Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio; Body of Lies, The Departed), a thirty something stuck working the run of the mill job – struggling to find significance in life – and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet; The Reader, Little Children) a beautiful but unfulfilled housewife with a less than significant career as an amateur actress and ever increasing feelings of entrapment.

Set in the 1950’s before globalization took hold and when there was an unspoken ritual to how things are done, the Wheeler’s marriage is displayed with frank openness, at its worst moments and some tender moments in between. Its fantastic art direction and set design allow for the viewer to submerge into the role and the script and directing further enhance that with numerous details that are not important in and of themselves, but which serve to subtly create a story which becomes easy to relate to, for better or worse.

Living the life in a good neighborhood, with a good – if less than fulfilling – job and going about their existence matching the common expectations, the Wheelers are looked upon as the perfect couple by everyone around them, from their neighbors to their real estate agents. Behind closed doors however we are given a much more intimate view at the turmoils that brew, so intimate in fact that even their family appears segmented. They have children, the Wheelers, and they are an important factor in this film, but it is intriguing that though one of the catalysts to this film’s apogee, the children are rarely show on screen. There is no doubt that the focus is on Frank and April and most of what we see is shown through their eyes.

The secondary cast, however, is not to be under appreciated, regardless of the small amount of screen time they might have received. Kathy Bates (The Golden Compass, Love Liza), as Mrs. Helen Givings brings to the screen her most significant role in years, portraying a real estate agent responsible for bringing the Wheelers to the house on Revolutionary Road, from which the film gets its name. Bates plays an unforgettable woman with her own nuances and which represents that average of life in the 1950’s, only to be overshadowed by the performance of Michael Shannon (Before the Devil Knows You are Dead, Lucky You) as John Givings, her middle age son recently committed to an asylum after a break down. Bringing a poignancy and absolute honesty to his character, Shannon’s character shines in the few scenes he gets, ironically as the seemingly most sane person in this story and the one with most apparent clarity, however uncouth he might be in the delivery of his opinions.

With a great cast, an amazing script, one of the best contemporary directors, technically superior cinematography, detailed art direction and set design, this movie is nearly perfect if it were not so damned depressing. This is coming from me, who has been able to stomach multiple viewings of Requiem for Dream. The difference being that while drugs are perhaps to the most of us a problem at arms reach, the issues that boil so explosively in Revolutionary Road, are issues that might be too close to home, issues that likely every married person must at some point deal with and as such, this this quickly becomes an unnerving film which might lose some viewership and appreciation due to its open dissection of the American family as it was in our recent past.

Rating:
Comments: Make room for rating movement on this one, the emotional coaster it rides could easily decrease a star for the average viewer, replay value is also likely to affect rating, so a 4/5 star rating is completely understandable depending on your point of view. Also expect heated arguments, some language, powerful moments, some sexuality and very adult situations.
Quote: April Wheeler: No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying.