A wonderful depiction of midlife crisis.

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 2001)

American Beauty, directed by British theater director Sam Mendes (Cabaret, The Blue Room) and written by Alan Ball, is a film which focuses on a suburban-American family, portraying its characters' dysfunctional relationships as a direct symptom of their unorthodox conceptions of what beauty is. As its title implies, the film begs the question "What is American beauty?" and without providing a concrete answer, it explores the endemic problems haunting many contemporary families: consumerism, unemployment, drugs, peer pressure, loneliness, discrimination and violence. American Beauty opens by having its protagonist, Lester Burnham (a convincing Kevin Spacey at his best) declare: "I'm 42 years old. In less than a year, I'll be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet. In a way, I'm dead already". In this simple manner the film establishes its somber tone, its dry sense of humor, its non-linear narration, and its character's fate. Having revealed the fatal outcome, what follows is a brief view of the final days of Lester's frustrated life; of his wife Carolyn's, amazingly enough played by Annette Bening, systematic belittling of him and all things associated with him; and of their daughter's (Thora Birch) overpowering contempt towards both of them. Coupling and/or contrasting these characters' conflicts with those of their repressed neighbors (Ricky Fitts and his ex-Marine dad, played by Wes Bentley and Chris Cooper) and their sexually uninhibited peers (Angela and Buddy King, played by Mena Suvari and Peter Gallagher), American Beauty discovers those harsh elements that lead to infatuation, adultery, murder, and --lastly-- self-reflection.