 |
| Poster artwork for the drama film Revolutionary Road. |
Marital
Misgivings by Linh
Adapted from the acclaimed novel of the same name by Richard
Yates, Revolutionary Road is set in
the Summer of 1955 in America, with conformity and the symbolic happy American
family existence used as a backdrop for the film. A young and happily married
couple with two children, Frank and April Wheeler move to Revolutionary Road
where their marriage is torn apart by their different intentions of what they
wanted their lives to be – one who wants a new life away from the mundane and
conformity for a life less ordinary while the other tries to maintain stability
and order in their life.
 |
TRAPPED:
Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) want to
break away from suburbia and live in Paris in the film Revolutionary Road. Image: Paramount Vantage, DreamWorks.
|
Director Sam Mendes (American
Beauty, Jarhead) was encouraged
by wife Kate Winslet to read the script based on Richard Yates’s novel and he
loved it so much, he and Winslet worked to get the film produced. Mendes’s
background as a theatre director gives the film an intimate feel as if the
audience is part of the action and in the same room as the characters. Mendes
directed the film in sequence and this helped to build up the tensions and allowed
the slow release of emotions of the characters.
Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Frank Wheeler, the conformist
and hardworking computer systems salesman who wants to be a good husband to
April and dedicated father to his children. Yet, he is apprehensive of taking
risks to pursue a dream which may not work out. Initially, living in Paris was
his idea, but just like his father, Frank conformed to his environment and his
work, so the once romantic Parisian goal became a fantasy. DiCaprio gives a
powerhouse performance fraught with a myriad of emotions that manifest
themselves in outbursts of either intense lovemaking or violent conduct
(attempting to bash his wife and trashing his house).
Kate Winslet received a Golden Globe for her role and it
was well deserved. Winslet plays the homemaker and dreamer April Wheeler whose
marriage to Frank almost seems to be a fairytale until they leave the city and
move to Revolutionary Road. While her acting career never took off, April’s
imagination and idealistic nature persisted in her duties as mother and wife,
until one day she remembered Frank saying how much he would love to go and live
in Paris at any cost.
Winslet is mesmerising as the young wife who yearns for
something different in life and to escape the confines of the home, while
wanting to stay married to Frank. Winslet’s displays of vulnerability, misery
and conviction are so well executed, her character’s emotional roller coaster
becomes an interesting yet tragic ride.
 |
SHARING
WITHOUT CARING: Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) feels he
can make April (Kate Winslet) happy without them moving to Paris in the film Revolutionary Road. Image: Paramount Vantage,
DreamWorks.
|
The supporting cast are wonderful and their characters
find themselves thrust aside as the marital fights between Frank and April play
out in the privacy of their home.
Kathy Bates (who appeared alongside DiCaprio and Winslet
in the film Titanic) is delightful as
the real estate agent, Helen Givings, who sells the house on Revolutionary Road
to the Wheelers and becomes their friend; Michael Shannon is brilliant as
Helen’s mentally unstable son, John Giving, who steals every scene in which
appears where his erratic ramblings hold some truths regarding the Wheeler’s
marriage; and Kathryn Hahn is in fine form as April’s friend Milly Campbell,
the seemingly perfect wife who’s happily married and a conformist to the 1950s
American dream life.
Revolutionary
Road
is a superb insight into character studies and life during 1950s America, the effects
it has on the marriage and how difficult it is to share and live a dream that’s
not really your own.The film manages to recapture the era, and the sense of
“hopelessness and emptiness” experienced by the characters without them
understanding it, is a revelation in story-telling.
 |
PERFECT
PARTNERS: Shep Campbell (David Harbour) and his wife Milly
(Kathryn Hahn) are living the American dream in the 1950s in the film Revolutionary Road. Image: Paramount
Vantage, DreamWorks.
|
Director: Sam
Mendes
Writers: Justin
Haythe (screenplay), Richard Yates (novel)
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon, David Harbour,
Kathryn Hahn, Zoe Kazan, Ryan Simpkins, Ty Keegan Simpkins, Jay O. Sanders
Producers:
Scott Rudin, John N. Hart Jr., Bobby Cohen, Sam Mendes, David M. Thompson,
Marion Rosenberg, Henry Fernaine, Nina Wolarsky, Ann Ruark, Gina Amoroso, Peter
Kalmbach, Pippa Harris
Cinematographer:
Roger Deakins (Director of Photography)
Original
Music Composer: Thomas Newman
Film
Editor: Tariq Anwar
Production:
Kristi Zea (Production Designer), Teresa Carriker-Thayer, John Kasarda,
Nicholas Lundy (Art Directors), Debra Schutt (Set Decorator)
Costume
Designer: Albert Wolsky
Running
Time: 1 hour and 55 minutes
No comments:
Post a Comment