Desultory Look at Eisenhower-Era Marital Discord Showcases Sharp Work from Winslet and Shannon

Rating: 6/10 (6 July 2009)

It took 47 years to adapt for the screen Richard Yates' celebrated novel of the struggles that a young suburban couple faces living within the constraints of Eisenhower-era conformity. Even now, the resulting 2008 film, as meticulously directed by Sam Mendes, feels so internally driven that the story may be better suited for the stage or even TV. In fact, it often feels a bit like an extended episode of the 1950's-set AMC series, "Mad Men", although the arguments between the protagonists bring to mind similarly visceral set pieces from Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Adapted by screenwriter Justin Haythe ("The Clearing"), the plot focuses on Frank and April Wheeler, an attractive couple settled in a Connecticut suburb with two young children and seven years into a dysfunctional marriage. The time is 1955 well before professional counseling and divorce were viable options. The one attribute that the couple shares is the disillusionment each experiences with their daily lives, a far cry from the worldly aspirations they had when they first met at a Manhattan cocktail party.
Initially a frustrated actress, April is a creative person who is suffocating from her suburban domestic duties, while Frank is an even more aimless dreamer who hates his sales job at an IBM-like company. The story turns on April's sudden idea to move the family to Paris, where she plans to work as a government agency secretary while Frank figures out what he wants to do. He tentatively agrees, but it is her mounting desperation to hold onto her dream of living a bohemian life abroad that points to their emotional unraveling. Extramarital affairs prove to be the least of their problems, as each becomes entrenched in a deepening inability to empathize with or support the another. Communication between them turns into mutual provocations of emotional abuse. Mendes returns to familiar territory here, as there are vestiges of his debut film, "American Beauty", in the often uncomfortable-to-watch marital discord he etches here. However, the tone is even more desultory this time with nary a trace of black humor to provide a counterbalance. All the period touches feel authentic with Roger Deakins' cinematography and Kristi Zea's production design contributing to an evocative feel that doesn't feel overly contrived. Thomas Newman's haunting score is another asset that enhances the dramatic elements.
This is the type of movie that provides a showcase for its principal actors. As April, Kate Winslet (Mendes' wife) manages to make a fundamentally selfish character sympathetic by throwing herself fearlessly and honestly into the role. Her former "Titanic" co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio has proved to be an arresting actor in "The Departed", but his baby face and youthful demeanor really seem at odds with Frank's weakening emotional state and diminishing sense of self-worth. He comes to life during the many confrontation scenes, but he can't match Winslet's affinity with the heavy material. The supporting cast is solid - Kathy Bates (another "Titanic" veteran) as unctuous real estate agent Helen Givings, Kathryn Hahn as the Wheelers' chipper neighbor Milly, David Harbour as her deceptively contemplative husband Shep, Zoe Kazan as Frank's gullible secretary, and in just two sharply rendered scenes, Michael Shannon makes Helen's mentally ill son a powerfully uncomfortable harbinger for the tragedy to follow. The 2009 DVD has a standard set of extras - a mostly interesting audio commentary track from Mendes and Haythe, five deleted scenes, and principal cast and crew members contributing to an adequate half-hour making-of featurette, "Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Making of Revolutionary Road".