My Review

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2013)

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a 42-year-old father, husband and advertising executive who are depressed and feeling like his life has hit a plateau and has no meaning. Lester's relationship with his wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) is an ambitious realtor who feels that she is unsuccessful at fulfilling her potential and so she decides that an affair will give her that feeling of worth. Their 16-year-old daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is unhappy and struggling with her own feeling of self-worth and self-esteem. Introduce the egomaniac Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari), Jane's closest friend from high school who becomes the center of Lester's new reinvigorated obsession. "Both my wife and daughter think I'm this chronic loser," Lester complains. He is right. But they are not without their reasons. At an agonizing family dinner, Carolyn plays music that mocks every mouthful; the music is lush and reassuring, and the family is angry and silent. When Lester criticizes his daughter's attitude, she points out correctly that he has hardly spoken to her in months. It is here that you can really see what discord everyone in the family has for each other and how broken this family truly is. Then it turns to the relationship between Lester and what has become the center of his everyday life, Angela. It's not a perverse relationship between the two of them, though the movie may lead you to believe that to be true. The relationship is more about the yearning of youth, respect, power and beauty. The theme of this movie is the fact that the moment a man stops dreaming is the moment he petrifies inside and starts losing himself. It's all about finding something that makes you want to take that first step to make a change. The movie shows Lester's progression from sad sack to hard bodied, self-confident, man. A recurring motif in this movie is that of the rose petals which signify the sexual desire Lester has for Angela, though they cover her body parts which then lead to show that it isn't a sexual desire for Angela but more of a desire for change and youth. Finally, though Lester started a loser, and by the end of the film he has lost everything, he has won because he is a changed man for the better and no longer a loser.