Revolutionary Road

Before going any further I just want to note that Kate Winslet is a wonderful actress; one reviewer of this film was inspired to proclaim that she is the best actress of her generation, and I would have difficulty arguing with that. Her performance here is almost supernaturally sensitive (see, I can be hyperbolic too!); her face is so expressive of every nuance of feeling in this complex and frustrated character. And her face always conveys intelligence, hers and her character’s. She was apparently the driving force behind this film because she wanted to play April Wheeler, and it was a good choice for her.

The film is based on Richard Yates’s novel (I’m reading it now), considered a classic and the progenitor of the novel of suburban angst. The road of the title is the suburban address of their pseudo-quaint home; the name is presumably ironic. We see Frank Wheeler meet April “across a crowded room” at a Manhattan party. Winslet is almost unrecognizable, but also gorgeous, with her straight blonde hair, red lipstick, cigarette, and early 50’s attire. They are drawn to each other, strike up a conversation, and the next thing we know they are a married couple; he is watching, uncomfortably, a bad community theater play she is in; they have a rip-roaring fight on the side of the road after it. Turns out they have two kids and have moved to the Connecticut ‘burbs. Frank works for the company his father did in NYC and April stays home. Frank is restless and unhappy in his job, so for his birthday he gives himself a fling with a hapless secretary. In the meantime, recognizing that Frank is stifled, April suggests that they sell the house and move to Paris; she’ll work while he finds himself. They both become caught up in this dream (and briefly their marriage seems renewed). Then Frank is offered a big promotion with much more pay and April discovers she is pregnant. Things do not go well for either from this point forward; I won’t be the spoiler.

Leonardo DiCaprio does a fine job as Frank. He too is very expressive of his mercurial character’s mood swings, and he covers a huge range of emotion. Frank is not as self-aware as his wife is, and somehow his boyish appearance works well here. It is impressive that DiCaprio has grown from a child star into a grownup one, and one of our best actors period. Winslet apparently was eager to get him for this role.

One other performance, a minor one, deserves a remark, and that is Michael Shannon, the lunatic son of the Wheeler’s former real estate agent and current friend of April. He is one of those truth-telling crazies that movies are fond of, but his mercurial power dominates every scene he’s in. A striking visual image is Frank’s commute to work in NYC in which the city seems to have been invaded by aliens in baggy suits and Fedoras. There’s no stronger reminder that we’re in the 1950’s than the presence of a hat on every male head.

This film is directed by Sam Mendes, successful London stage director, director of American Beauty, and Kate Winslet’s real-life husband. I have noted before Ms. Winslet’s propensity for getting naked in her films, but she does not here, despite having three sex scenes; she remains fully clothed in each. Husband directs; no nudity for Kate. Coincidence? You be the judge.

The film follows the novel very closely (the dialog of the entire roadside argument comes straight from the book). Is a movie about 1950's suburban angst somewhat dated? Probably. And I get irritated when the source of most of the anguish is the characters' discovery that they aren't the privileged special beings they imagined themselves to be in their youths. Hello?

Revolutionary Road is pretty much of a downer, but it is played very well and is well worth seeing.