The Film (Spoilers Included)
Revolutionary Road is the light-hearted crowd-pleaser of 2008! If by that I mean the opposite. Humorless, downbeat, depressed, and only spiraling from there, Revolutionary Road is one of the most miserable films I’ve seen. This isn’t to say it isn’t well-made, or that it has nothing to say. But I can firmly say that I will never watch the film again.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as Frank and April Wheeler. This all-American couple of the 1950s meet at a party in the opening scene, and in the next scene they are a miserable and fighting married couple. These opening scenes provide us with the structure of the overall film. It starts out with some chance for happiness, and ends with all hope gone. I’m not one to dislike a film just because it ends hopelessly. I am one to complain when I’m asked to follow characters that are unlikeable through unlikeable circumstances, and watch them crumble in unlikeable ways.
The Wheelers married on a whim, it seems, having put their best feet forward for one another and each seeing the promise of adventure and fulfillment in the other. Two children and a suburban home with a commuter job later, they struggle to find their dreams. In this case, the idea is to move to Paris and throw caution to the wind. For a while, their ailing marriage is rejuvenated through this shared dream. But a third child on the way forces Frank’s hand and he instead accepts a promotion. It is obvious to viewers that this promotion is the death knell to the Wheelers happiness. But viewers may not be prepared for the utter despair of the ending.
They may also find themselves disliking the Wheelers as much as I did. At one point they share a light moment by laughing at their “simple” neighbors over their shock when they were told of the Wheelers plans to move to Paris. Who wants to sympathize or identify with people whose only moments of joy together are at the expense of others? And then, when the Wheelers have to face the harsh reality that they may be just as simple as their neighbors, the bottom drops out on their lives.
Revolutionary Road is, at its heart, a movie about dreams deferred. While meditating on what to say about the film, two other, much better films came to mind. Pixar’s Up and It’s a Wonderful Life are also films about dreams deferred. And yet the latter two are far superior to Revolutionary Road. Why? Well, Up’s central character, as well as It’s a Wonderful Life’s, discovers that sometimes our relationships and responsibilities become a part of our dreams instead of the reason we never find them.
Up’s Mr. Frederickson sets out on an epic journey to fulfill his dreams, and realizes that it is time to make NEW adventures and dreams with the people he meets along the way. Life’s George Bailey puts aside his dreams to support the family business, just like DiCaprio in this film, but finds that his dreams being put on hold result in the strengthening of his whole community during hard times. I just couldn’t help being detached from the Wheelers, whose children seemed almost absent throughout the film, due to their unrelenting selfishness.
Was there truth at the core of Revolutionary Road? Absolutely. The fights and emotions on display here were raw and honest. It was maybe even part of Sam Mendes’ intention to make his characters self-absorbed, but that doesn’t help the film to be watchable. I assume there is also a significant commentary on the suburban dreams of the 1950s. Maybe I would have been more willing to mull over that commentary if any piece of me had actually liked Frank and April Wheeler.
The Specs
There are a standard behind the scenes featurette, and a reflection piece on the life of author Richard Yates of the original novel, and a director’s commentary. Some deleted scenes are also included. The film itself had such a distancing effect on me that I had very little investment in these featurettes.
On Blu-ray, the faces of these everyday characters are pretty amazing to behold, however. One wise decision was to do very little to make these characters look like the movie stars they are. Winslet and DiCaprio show their age here as they interact, and Blu-ray provides a brutal portal into this disintegrating relationship.
