Review of Revolutionary Road (2008) by Filipeneto — 19 Jun 2021

Intense and uncomfortable, this film dissects the end of a marriage like no other.

I heard so much about this film that I felt compelled to see it, especially considering that it is directed by Sam Mendes (one of the great directors of today) and starred by Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio, two extraordinary actors. Everything seemed to be an excellent film… and what I came to find is more than enough to satisfy my expectations.

The film is a family drama set in a 1950s suburb, one of the most interesting decades to address these issues given the rapid changes in the lives and habits of American families, and the obsession with appearances and the perfect life, the which is particularly palpable in suburban families, always worried about what their neighbors will think. The script for this film introduces us to a family that couldn't function worse: after a quick and fleeting infatuation, the couple Frank and April Wheeler couldn't be more unhappy, enduring a conflicted marriage, jobs they hate and a suburban life that, inwardly, they despise. Eager to change her life, April asks them to move to Paris, France, but several events delay the trip as their marriage falls apart.

This is a hard and difficult film, which tackles two main themes in a caustic and uncomfortable way: the first and most important is marriage, especially those accommodating and loveless marriages, which go on supporting each other year after year. The film highlights the differences, sometimes irreconcilable, between the characters so much that it is anti-romantic. The second major theme to be addressed is the modus vivendi of suburban American families in the Fifties, with their hypocrisies and obsession with appearances and the perfect life. Sam Mendes, by the way, did a similar critical exercise a few years earlier, in “American Beauty”.

Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio are the featured actors in this film. They've been great friends since they starred in "Titanic" and their friendship was the basis of a fruitful collaboration, in which both always ask for more and better each other, aware of their abilities and the excellent chemistry they manage to maintain, making the scenes of love in poetry and giving the most tense scenes a palpable electricity. Winslet was particularly committed, convinced that the film was a good idea. She was responsible for the participation of her friend DiCaprio, to whom she gave a copy of the script. The result is one of the most intense, complex and powerful works of her acting career. She also wanted to draw attention to the dialogue, particularly when the two characters fight. There are truly powerful phrases, with a cruel harshness that is hard to hear but exudes credibility. There are also good performances by actors like Michael Shannon or David Harbour, but always in the third plan.

The film is not very long, but it develops quickly, and in the first few minutes you realize what lies ahead: Sam Mendes shows us a tough marital fight full of sarcasm early on, setting the pace to the film and developing as well as the characters, as well as the social background through which they move. The sets and costumes are excellent and reproduce very well the suburban environment of the time, with the standardization of life and tastes, men dressed almost identically, women with long skirts and the one always worried about her home and her husband. The mentality of the time and the social context are part of the film as if they were another character: if we consider that that marriage failed because of the cowardice of not defying the conventions with an exciting trip to a country where they could live life without so many rules, the villain ends up being the hypocritical and restrictive social environment where they lived.