Revolutionary Road

Sam Mendes second take on perceived suburban domesticity. After American Beauty opened our eyes to the apparently true lives of forty-something mortgage holders, yearning for more than they have worked so hard to attain and generally not accepting their lot in life, we are now presented with a slightly grittier, more uncomfortable film.

As with much of Mendes’ work, the story isn’t laid out for you to enjoy, but you are more grabbed by the scruff of the neck and shaken like a rag doll in the mouth of an angry Rottweiler until you get it. Subtle it is most definitely not. Where American Beauty relied on its witty sarcasm, embellished irony and odd moments of incredulous humour, Revolutionary Road dispenses with such frivolities from the outset and goes straight for your throat.

If you think for a minute that the casting of Winslet, DiCaprio and Bates would bring back wistful memories, you are put straight very early on. There is not much love lost here. We benefit from these people having worked together before, but this couldn’t be more far removed from anything that James Cameron could muster in even his darkest hours.

Based on the Richard Yates novel, Justin Haythe has written a screenplay that almost beggars belief. Every sentence that makes it onto the screen has value and provokes extended consideration. Ably assisted by both Winslet and DiCaprio, who both deliver stellar performances, the story has immediacy and demands respect from its audience.

Being ostensibly British, at least in the eyes of most Americans I come across, you would think that I, especially, could not possibly be sick to death of Kate Winslet being nominated for every award going, each and every year. This is an annual hindrance to a movie reviewer like myself for fear of appearing partisan. Come November or December, up pops Kate, party frock in one hand and clutches of Oscars and Golden Globes in the other, beaming that smile that has smitten many an Academy Judge in its time.

There must be a host of actresses out there that wince at the very mention of her name. Is it not time for someone else? You could forgive them for thinking exactly that. On the contrary, however, I have to say that ‘our’ Kate is possibly one of the finest exports of British talent we have seen for years. The reason she always wins awards is because she is pretty good at what she does, if not the best, as amply demonstrated here.

Alongside Winslet, DiCaprio also shines. The two bounce off each other comfortably, both eminently aware of the others’ abilities. Much of the film is spent in the company of these two alone and the tension between the characters is both palpable and almost resonant enough for the audience to touch. I feared when initially hearing the cast, and then the plot, that DiCaprio could not pull this off, but he has firmly put me in my place, and as such, I now view him in a whole new light which he deserves to bask in.

We meet the characters as two single people at a party and Frank (DiCaprio) is encouraged to go and talk to the confident looking April (Winslet). He is charming and open and impresses April with his own particular outlook on life, his dreams and his intentions to pursue them. Frank almost seems to believe his own pitch, in a perfect world, at least. But events transpire that stop his perfect world from coming into being. Fast forward to after Frank and April have been married a while, now with two children, and they buy a house on Revolutionary Road, with the assistance of new neighbour and agent, Mrs Givings (Bates).

It is not here that things start to go awry, as the characters appear to have been unhappy for more time than we are afforded, but it is a point in their relationship where the cracks do begin to show and when they do, those cracks widen quickly. It appears that the dawn has risen on April’s unconscious and she now finally sees Frank for what he really is. Just a man. A stifled man, with a need to realise himself. She knows this is not possible doing what he’s doing now, so April suggests moving to Paris, a city of fond memories for Frank. After some soul-searching, Frank agrees.

What follows is the free-fall of a marriage that appears to be made in haste and as per the saying, both Frank and April appear to be repenting at leisure. With this being a Mendes piece, you can pretty much guarantee that this is not going to end well, and you are wondering just how bad it will get as opposed to expecting a happy ending of wedded bliss and domestic heaven. To tell you any more would ruin a master class of both acting and direction for you, however.

I was completely taken by this film, as I was with American Beauty, believing that Mendes has a strangely apt understanding of the nature of misery. The characters are not asking for more than they deserve, but stuck in a rut that they can see no way of getting out of, despite both trying in vain to extricate themselves from the mental squalor they both appear to be living in. They did indeed dig their own holes so deep that escape, like their dreams and ideals, had become impossible.

Fantastic performances all round, deserving every single credit it receives and a worthy award winner for Direction, Actor and Actress, should the Academy fall for ‘our’ Kate’s wondrous charms, once more.