Revolutionary Road

Rating: 7/10 (14 August 2010)

Frank and April Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) are a young married couple living with their two kids in Connecticut in the 1950s. Their life is basically fine, but both long for more: he is disillusioned with his steady but boring office job, while she feels suffocated by the quiet life of a housewife. To escape their dull reality, April suggests they move to France and start over there, finally realizing their old, buried dream. Although initially excited about the idea, Frank and April soon have to face many difficulties life throws at them – the move to Europe starts seeming less and less sensible. Is there any way to overcome their desperation?
The Wheelers' idea seems laughably idealistic at first, but the feeling of being trapped by the endless responsibilities of respectable life is easy to identify with, and in the end their planned move is not at all difficult to understand. The ironically bright and sunny cinematography and the fact that the story is set in the narrow-minded 1950s add to the mood of deadly pleasantness too. The most telling of the scenes may be the conversation where April explains that she never wanted to get out of her life, but in it.
One of the film's main assets is the acting. Especially Kate Winslet performs her part with masterful precision; every small emotion comes to life on her face without ever looking unnatural or exaggerated. DiCaprio does a good job too, but his credibility as a serious adult is sadly diminished by his youthful, boyish looks (perhaps a cliché criticism, but I cannot ignore it). The Wheelers' situation is also reflected to their family friends Shep and Milly who are implied to be going through similar sentiments but with less self-confidence; David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn convey this feel of unspoken envy with ease. Michael Shannon as John Givings, a mentally unstable former mathematician, also deserves a nod for his portrayal of the seemingly aggressive but ultimately bitter and self-pitying speaker of truth; so does his on-screen mother Helen, played by Kathy Bates.
Together DiCaprio, Winslet and director Mendes craft a well-made drama that evokes memories from Mendes' first hit American Beauty (1999). Especially the haunting music at the end of Revolutionary Road immediately leads thoughts to Lester Burnham and Co. but the emphases are different in both films. Perhaps the newer film could have used a little more of element of surprise to raise it into the master class, but it is an enjoyable, if forlorn, tale of anxiety at any rate.