Joyces "Ulysses" re-imagined in contemporary America

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2005)

I've read several of the reviews of "American Beauty" on this website and I am surprised that no one has noticed that this was an adaptation of Joyce's "Ulysses" and to a lesser extent his "Portait of an Artist as A Young Man". Lester Burnham and Leopold Bloom have the same initials, both sell advertising, and both engage in famous masturbation scenes fantasizing over much younger women (Gertie McDowell and Angela Hayes). And they both have wives (Molly Bloom and Carolyn Burnham) who cuckold them with men they know professionally, and in the end both are in love with their husbands. I thought that the scene in which Carolyn Burnham grabs her husbands clothes in the closet after she learns of his death and seems to inhale his presence was very poignant. Maybe not as iconic as Molly's "yes she said yes I will yes.." but extremely well acted by Annette Bening.
There is also the obvious reworking of the theme of the young artists (Stephen Dedalus and Ricky Fits) rejecting their paternal fathers (John Dedalus and Frank Fits)and forging sympathetic relationships with other, older male role models. I also sensed an echoing of Stephens recently dead mother in the portrayal of Franks wraith like mother in the film. In the end both young artists end up fleeing the confining strictures of place and family to pursue their art and their lives.
I was intrigued by the many comments in the review about Frank's video of the blue garbage bag blowing about in the wind. When Joyce wrote "Ulysses" many critics thought that looking for aesthetic values in a novel about the lives of lower, middle-class Dubliners was pointless. They were just to Catholic, to Irish and to ordinary to be of any artistic significance. I felt that the wind blown garbage bag captured the essence of Joyces affection for the seemingly common place beauty that surrounds us if we take the time to look.
I though "American Beauty" was an excellent movie. To take a story that has been told and reinterpreted for over 2,500 years, to extract from it the timelessness of its humanity and to re-imagine it in a contemporary setting is great art. And Kevin Spacey absolutely aced the part.