Revolutionary Road

Taking place in the mid-50s, when divorce was taboo but extramarital affairs seemed commonplace, Revolutionary Road reveals the devastating effects of a marriage that today would likely dissolve in divorce, but at the time descended into madness. The Wheelers are young and beautiful, with a nice home in a nice suburb; they are the picture of perfection for their nosy neighbors, one of whom, Mrs. Givings, asks them to meet her troubled son in an effort to show him what he could attain if he made a few friends and settled down. Mrs. Givings sees her son as a lunatic. He has been institutionalized because he seems to hold contrary opinions to those around him and he has an overwhelming need to tell the truth when he converses with others, and he is very insightful, which makes him a nightmare for the Wheelers. He meets them and quickly demolishes the façade that the Wheelers have constructed for the public and for themselves, for they don’t fully realize the extent of their mutual lies.

In his book Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker talks about the resentment we often feel towards those closest to us. Our instinct to survive is often betrayed by our love for others and the mind can subconsciously develop ways to hurt the ones we love as a survival tool. Revolutionary Road adheres to this theory. April Wheeler feels trapped. She wants change and tries to convince Frank to move to France, a place they have always talked about visiting. Frank, himself lost in the every day monotony of a long commute and a dead end job, agrees to the idea before he catches a break at work and is offered a promotion. His brief success makes him want to stay and April’s hopes are shattered, but a move to France would only have been a band-aid on top of a gaping wound. Frank and April’s relationship seems doomed right from the opening scene of the movie. This is a film about the nightmare of a marriage’s final days.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio play the unlucky couple, their first movie together since Titanic. Winslet’s husband, Sam Mendes, the brilliant director of American Beauty and Road to Perdition, directs the film, which I hope is not an account of their marriage. Winslet and DiCaprio give bold, brilliant performances, each is asked to summon anger and despair in undulating scenes of serenity and savagery. I could not bring myself to see this movie again but it is a masterpiece, another from Mendes, who continues to open doors into the depths of human despair.