Revolutionary Road (2008)

Revolutionary Road

Released: 2008
Running Time:  119 mins
Genre: Drama
Estimated Budget: $35, 000,000
Estimated Gross (2009): $22, 877,808

Director: Sam Mendes
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates

Revolutionary Road was a project that would bring one of cinema's favorite couples back together. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet had shot to fame in James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic (1997). Their Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater the 3rd and 1st class passengers traveling to America on the doomed liner fall in love breaking down the rigid and most obvious class barrier between them. But this would not be any young lovers passionate romance and I think this disappointed a lot of audiences who went to the film expecting to see them in a similar plot.

Revolutionary Road is a marital drama with Winslet and DiCaprio as Frank and April Wheeler, a couple who have forgotten what it was they loved in each other when they first met. The film is set in the mid 1950's in America's suburbia, this has a very cliched look about it, everything is neat and perfect and wouldn't be amiss in The Stepford Wives (2004). But here is where the story really gets interesting; on the surface the Wheelers are the perfect young couple, lovely, polite bringing up two children and very popular in the neighborhood. But within the confines of their own home, things are falling apart and the act that they are both playing to outsiders is finally beginning to show cracks.

Winslet's character is feisty and determined and altogether out of place in 50's America, she is bored of the neighborhood and the people and the life that comes with the suburban home. She wants adventure, to see places and experience life, and when she first met Frank, he wanted the same things and that is what drew her to him, he excited her. They always talked about going to Paris but as it happens in life; things intervene, distractions, jobs and general life get in the way of far-fetched plans. This has been the case with the Wheelers'; Frank is in a mind-numbing office job and has turned into his father, something he was adamant he would never do. He is having an affair with his young secretary to try and add some excitement to his life, and it is hinted that there have been several more before this one. April suggests that they take the kids, and escape the mindless repetition that has become their lives and go to Paris. Frank takes some convincing but he agrees. Suddenly their lives and relationship with each other is rejuvenated, the thrill and anticipation of getting away from it all improves their lives and they see a glimpse of their former selves. But as inevitably happens with high-flying plans, something or many things go wrong that destroy all chances.

I think people underestimate this film, it is a fantastic inner look at marriage, relationships and life and it's disappointments. Sam Mendes is on a great high after 2012's action extravaganza Skyfall but he is also an expert at putting human relationships under the microscope that is film, just look at his Academy Award winning American Beauty (1999) if you need proof. Revolutionary Road is a very serious film and I think it took many people by surprise, it was not what was expected or wanted as a piece for Winslet and DiCaprio's reunion and I think this close-mindedness on behalf of audiences hurt the box office considerably. If viewers gave the film a chance they would see two stars at the peak of their careers in stunning performances, portraying characters who could be you, me or anyone for that matter, suffering through the indignities and disappointments of life and the realization as you start to get older that all the dreams of youth remain just that; dreams.

This film has a lot of depth not only in the screenplay but in the performances too, Winslet and DiCaprio both shout and scream and show utter loathing and frustration towards each other in this movie, but the best scenes are those in which the performances are subtle, the acting is done with the eyes (which I have always said is the mark of a spectacular artist). DiCaprio's Frank is a coaster - he settles with his lot in life because he is scared to take risks and fail at something, he doesn't like a difficult road. This trait nauseates his wife, she wants him to jump up and go. Winslet's April is a walking contradiction, she is a whirlwind of feelings and emotions, both are struggling with their lives and distancing themselves from the other but also grasping to save their marriage. They come across as quite a selfish couple, especially April which is surprising for a motherly role. She is so wrapped up in her own life and feelings and Frank is trying desperately to read her that they seem to forget that they have children at all, though saying that the children only feature as a tool in the story. This is a film about the parents and what goes on behind closed doors when children are asleep or out of the picture.

Revolutionary Road has a supporting cast to die for, Kathy Bates is the sickly sweet neighbor and real estate agent who sold the Wheelers their house. Michael Shannon is fantastic in the role of her son, a scholar who has had a nervous breakdown and has been in a mental institute. His performance is stunning and his character is used as a great mechanism for pointing out the hidden truths that are hinted at in the Wheelers characters but are never stated. David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn play a couple who live next to the Wheelers they are another pair playing to the cliched perfect life and relationship that the Donna Reed style 50's portrayed, when really they are suffering with problems as well behind the mask they wear for company.

Revolutionary Road may not be the next Titanic but that's been done. This is a fascinating family drama that stands solidly on its own merits.  7/10 from me, check it out.