It's been quite a while since a movie was so heavily laden with undercurrents. Dreams and disillusionment, hope and hopelessness, the essence of life and the practicality of survival, all aspects of humanity are portrayed in this movie based on the novel by Richard Yates.
It's about a young couple who believe in the beauty of life and dream of living it on their terms, but become unwitting participants in the shallowness of social trappings. Kate Winslet is her natural self as a young mother who longs to satisfy her yearning for a life beyond the cliched "normalcy". Leonardo DiCaprio as the husband and father struggling with his emotions is equally good, if not quite natural.
Frank and April Wheeler are "that wonderful Wheeler couple" who have everything going for them; a large house, two lovely kids, a well paying job and a respectable neighborhood. Frank knows that whatever else he gets in life, he definitely does not want to have the ordinary life his salesman father lived. April urges Frank to explore himself and find his own essence to life. However their failure to come to terms with their existing life spreads a sheen of darkness.
When they decide to get their life out of the rut and move to Paris with their two children the movie becomes a vivid tapestry of emotions. Friends explain the futility of pursuing dreams but there is a strong thread of feelings. Resentment at their happiness, wistfulness at their excitement, envy at their freedom, and a sadness at the realization of failure to do something similar. Sensing all these emotions almost takes ones breath away. It is as if each character wants to break free just like the Wheelers, but they cannot, or will dare not. Then there comes a point where Frank Wheeler faces the chance to redeem the emptiness of his father's life by ironically accepting the same emptiness for himself.
The movie does not make any judgments nor passes any verdicts, but there is a feeling of some comparison going on, some involuntary fight going on. Revolutionary Road is not about doing the right thing or even the best thing, it is about feeling what is alive and doing what you feel is alive.
In a way it is ironic that the only character in the movie that gets even close to understanding the Wheelers is John Givings, the institutionalized son of local realtor who is able to sense the eagerness for life shimmering beneath their dull existence.
If a movie can be judged by the mood of the crowds exiting the movie hall Revolutionary Road is a movie that forces each of us to take a truthful look within ourself. When the book was published in 1961, it received critical acclaim, and the New York Times rightly reviewed it as "beautifully crafted... remarkable and deeply troubling". The same goes for the movie.
It's about a young couple who believe in the beauty of life and dream of living it on their terms, but become unwitting participants in the shallowness of social trappings. Kate Winslet is her natural self as a young mother who longs to satisfy her yearning for a life beyond the cliched "normalcy". Leonardo DiCaprio as the husband and father struggling with his emotions is equally good, if not quite natural.
Frank and April Wheeler are "that wonderful Wheeler couple" who have everything going for them; a large house, two lovely kids, a well paying job and a respectable neighborhood. Frank knows that whatever else he gets in life, he definitely does not want to have the ordinary life his salesman father lived. April urges Frank to explore himself and find his own essence to life. However their failure to come to terms with their existing life spreads a sheen of darkness.
When they decide to get their life out of the rut and move to Paris with their two children the movie becomes a vivid tapestry of emotions. Friends explain the futility of pursuing dreams but there is a strong thread of feelings. Resentment at their happiness, wistfulness at their excitement, envy at their freedom, and a sadness at the realization of failure to do something similar. Sensing all these emotions almost takes ones breath away. It is as if each character wants to break free just like the Wheelers, but they cannot, or will dare not. Then there comes a point where Frank Wheeler faces the chance to redeem the emptiness of his father's life by ironically accepting the same emptiness for himself.
The movie does not make any judgments nor passes any verdicts, but there is a feeling of some comparison going on, some involuntary fight going on. Revolutionary Road is not about doing the right thing or even the best thing, it is about feeling what is alive and doing what you feel is alive.
In a way it is ironic that the only character in the movie that gets even close to understanding the Wheelers is John Givings, the institutionalized son of local realtor who is able to sense the eagerness for life shimmering beneath their dull existence.
If a movie can be judged by the mood of the crowds exiting the movie hall Revolutionary Road is a movie that forces each of us to take a truthful look within ourself. When the book was published in 1961, it received critical acclaim, and the New York Times rightly reviewed it as "beautifully crafted... remarkable and deeply troubling". The same goes for the movie.
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