Devastating look at one very desperate housewife and her family, hard to take but easy to admire

Rating: 10/10 (29 January 2009)

April Wheeler is one very desperate housewife in the 1950's. She married her attractive husband, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), thinking his unconventional ways and casual attitude toward his jobs would result in a less-than-ordinary life. However, once April got pregnant with her daughter, and her younger son, Frank changed. He started to work for the same staid Manhattan firm where his father had toiled for years and he moved his family into a lovely home in suburban Connecticut. Consequently, April is in a state of slow suffocation, for although she appears to be the typical, all-American housewife, she is not. One day, April greets Frank with a big smile and a nifty family party for his 30th birthday. That's because April has hatched a plan. Why can't the Wheelers move to Paris, which Frank saw and admired during his military years, and which would surely hold a bevy of new sights and sounds? Frank would not even have to work, April would work as a secretary for a government agency and Frank can figure out what he really wants to do in life. Caught up in April's enthusiasm, Frank agrees to the new venture. But, then April finds out she is pregnant with the couple's third child. What will happen to April's dreams of a new life? This is a devastating look at one very desperate housewife and her unhappiness with a picture-postcard family existence. April's problems are compounded by the fact that she lives in the 1950's when women were just beginning to break out of the typical homemaker "mold". In the 21st century, many couples grow apart as they grow older and there is not as much of a stigma to ending a marriage and starting all over again. Yet, Frank is a sympathetic character, too, for he is not the money-driven businessman that many folks are, but he does have a family to support and his feet are more rooted in reality than April's. The result is that the Wheelers are a couple in desperate need of serious counseling but they don't get it and tragedy ensues. As the principal actors, Winslet and DiCaprio are incomparable in their difficult roles. Winslet embodies the beautiful, unhappy April as few actresses could but DiCaprio, despite receiving no similar award nominations, is every bit her equal in his part as the torn-in-two directions husband. All of the supporting cast, from Kathy Bates to Michael Shannon and the rest, are absolutely marvelous, too. The scenery in suburban Connecticut is lovely, the costumes well chosen, and the production values are first rate. As for the story and its direction, by Sam Mendes, they are monumentally powerful and sad. Not all of us are cut out for the "normal" family life and to feel caught in a life style you don't love is a major downer. Therefore, this is not the film to see if you are in a state of depression or are experiencing any difficulties in your own family relationships, for it will thoroughly demoralize you. But, if you are a movie fan who yearns for a film to "shake you to your bones", with a strong story and great depth, this one just can't be missed. Mendes, as in American Beauty, is a master at showing the dark side of anyone's seemingly sunny life.