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Try as we might to control our destiny, life never seems to go quite as we planned. The same, I find, is often true of award season movies. Often, the ones that I look forward to the most—the ones that seem destined for greatness—are the ones that move me the least. This year, that was the case for Revolutionary Road, the highly anticipated on-screen reunion of Titanic stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. But instead of young lovers filled with passion and hope, this time, they play a married couple who find themselves in a suburban rut.
Years ago, when they met at a party, Frank (DiCaprio) and April (Winslet) were much like Jack and Rose in Titanic: young, full of promise, and ready to take on the world. April was going to be a famous actress, and Frank was going to be rich and successful. Now, Frank is an office drone, and April is an unhappy housewife. Their lives are hopeless and empty, and their marriage is falling apart.
Desperate to regain the joie de vivre they once had, April proposes a change. They’ll sell their house on Revolutionary Road and move to Paris—and while April works to support the family, Frank can finally take the time to find himself. But as they excitedly prepare for their big move, they begin to realize that changing their lives won’t be as easy as they once thought it would be.
Based on the 1961 novel by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road is a film about conformity and desperation in 1950s suburbia. It’s a heavy and hopeless film, in which, as the old saying goes, “Life sucks, then you die.”
Unfortunately, it’s all been done before. We’ve all seen movies about the hopelessness of suburban life, the brutal death of one’s hopes and dreams, and the struggle to hold on to that last shred of happiness. And it’s definitely been done better. While Revolutionary Road is sure to leave you feeling depressed and despondent, it’s also sure to leave you feeling dissatisfied, as if it’s missing something. And that something, my friends, is an emotional connection.
Revolutionary Road’s greatest fault is its lack of development. The film would have been much more powerful if it had allowed audiences to care about the main characters. Aside from a quick introduction in the beginning, we get to know very little about who they are (or were) and what they gave up by settling down and moving to the ‘burbs. We don’t know how they ended up where they are, and we don’t really know why they suddenly decide to move to Paris. Apparently, we’re just supposed to get it. We’re supposed to understand that life in the suburbs is nothing but a depressing existence of sacrifice and conformity. But I don’t actually mind living in my little house in the ‘burbs. And with such little background information on the characters, it’s hard to really care about them.
To Winslet’s and DiCaprio’s credit, the performances are truly spectacular. Both portrayals are grippingly and desperately passionate—though Michael Shannon steals the show as John Givings, the mental patient who sees how pathetic life on Revolutionary Road really is. But no matter how wonderful the performances might be, the actors can’t carry the film by themselves. And, in the end, I was left feeling as flat and empty as the characters themselves.
If you do feel the need to see Revolutionary Road—so you’ll be in the know on Oscar night—just be sure to have plenty of Zoloft handy.
Blu-ray Review:
With the Blu-ray release of Revolutionary Road, I was hoping for some insight into the film—something, perhaps, that I missed the first time around. Something that would change my mind. Instead, I got more of the same: a handful of long, dreary features that left me feeling flat and, frankly, a bit depressed.
BD extras include a commentary with director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe, along with Lives of Quiet Desperation, a half-hour-long making-of feature, which covers everything from the film’s design elements to the cast and crew’s thoughts on what the story’s really about. There’s also a rather lengthy feature on author Richard Yates, whose life of drinking, divorce, illness, and psychosis makes for a somewhat interesting yet (once again) heavy story. And, finally, there are 17 (yes, 17) deleted scenes, with optional commentary. While some of these scenes are even more bleak and depressing than those that made the cut, others actually offer the slightest bit of insight into the characters and their pasts—which, according to the commentary, seems to have been the reason for cutting them.
So, unfortunately, while the extras on Revolutionary Road give plenty of background information, they didn’t change my opinion of the film. It’s beautifully acted, but it’s hard to watch—and so are the extras.
