Revolutionary Road - Movie Review

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Kate Winslet’s message is strong and if you don’t get it the first time Kathy Bates will tell you again, but it could have been delivered sans hysteria. Flawless sets and costumes make this a sumptuous but sad trip into the ‘50s

After either winning or being nominated for every award in the world for “American Beauty” director Sam Mendes had made himself a tough act to follow. Both “Road to Perdition” and “Jarhead” danced around the genius of “Beauty” but didn’t have the depth to take home the big wins. His latest familial pot-boiler, “Revolutionary Road” has all the elements of a classic. The established stars DiCaprio, Winslet and Bates have what it takes to drive home the bitter pain of love and loss. So far, at least the Golden Globes have jumped on the bandwagon with a bully nomination for Best Director for Mendes.

The film revolves around Kate Winslet as April Wheeler, a 1950s suburban housewife questioning the values America has laid at her door. This film is a celebration of the American female and the heavy lifting falls on Winslet’s shoulders. She provides a performance that is heartbreaking and bracing at the same time. She dares us to look at ourselves and the world around and, like Jim Carrey’s Truman Burbank, to open the door to forbidden knowledge; the world outside.

April Wheeler holds herself to the same standards she promotes in others. This leads her to make the decision of her life when she accidentally becomes pregnant. The film is both a promotion of thinking outside the box and an unabashed endorsement of a woman’s right to control her body. If this is controversial today, it was unheard of in the 1950s.

If you liked the richness of the directing and cinematography of the 1950s relationship drama “Far From Heaven” you will revel in this film. Like Julianne Moore’s and Dennis Quaid’s Whitakers, the Wheelers seem to have nothing to lose and everything to gain from the burgeoning American economy. But there are land mines out there and even the fertile fields of the computer revolution demand trench warfare to preserve the uniqueness of life.

Leonardo DiCaprio is Frank Wheeler, the nine-to-fiver husband of April and father of their two young children. Wheeler works in a city office environment that is right out of Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” and is populated with Fred MacMurray “Jeff Sheldrake” clones. Each one wearing the same brown hat and overcoat and sharing the cynical self-loathing of the spoiled but hamstrung 1950s American professional. In fact, Zoe Kazan’s Maureen Grube is not a bad reprise of Shirley MacLaine’s Fran Kubelik, a very available and vulnerable fringe benefit for the members of America’s white collar club.

When April Wheeler breaks out of her shell and sees the misery in which she and Frank must dwell, she proposes they do the unthinkable and move to Paris. A great plan, especially to an audience with 20-20 hindsight that knows one could live in the City of Lights for a song in the 1950s. Apparently April can even get a good job there, even if Frank can’t.

Unlike their roles in the blockbuster “Titanic,” Winslet is the savvy common sense person who sees through the fog of suburban cocktails while DiCaprio is the middle-class working victim caught up in the promises of the time. He can’t break free of the money, house, cars and “prestige” to live his life whereas his wife knows that a life without identity is worthless.

Kathy Bates is Mrs. Helen Givings, the real estate agent who sells the Wheelers their dream house and becomes the emotional sounding board for their misgivings. Her performance is sterling. She has few spoken lines but she doesn’t need the words; the dread and darkness in her face broadcasts a searchlight of despair that would penetrate a bunker. She is a dynamite follow-up to the searching, anticipating April Wheeler; the crushing blow to the one-two punch of their failing battle to find peace within themselves.

But the best part is yet to come, Helen’s son John (Michael Shannon), suffering nervous breakdowns and the recipient of seventeen shock therapy sessions, visits the Wheelers and gives them, and us, the lowdown. Life is no damn good; get out while you can. His performance is over the top but still entirely in keeping with the desperate pace of the story which plays out like a loosing hand in draw poker, card by card.

The costumes, sets and makeup for this film are first rate. Everything is authentic down to the opaque glass cubicle dividers, the Dictaphone handsets and the Buick cruiserline ventaports. The houses are even right---pretty, but not too pretty. Nothing adventuresome about the camera work, but the photographic quality is flawless. For anybody with a hint of nostalgia the film is a sumptuous visual feast.

The bad news is there is not a tremendous chemistry between DiCaprio and Winslet. His anger seems unfounded and forced; he does not convey the message of the socially imprisoned and sensorily deprived middle-class. Too much screen time is spent on pointless, tedious and irritating arguments. Perhaps the tedium and irritation is the point, but where does the entertainment come in?

Directed by: Sam Mendes
Written by: Justin Haythe (screenplay) and Richard Yates (novel)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon and Kathy Bates
MPAA: Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity
Running Time: 119 minutes
Country: USA/UK
Language: English