There’s angst aplenty in Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as two young marrieds in the 1950s who buy into the American Dream, only to realize it’s a nightmare of boredom that soon gives way to apathy. Frank and April Wheeler are the couple in question who argue behind the closed doors of their middle class Connecticut home about how meaningless their lives have become. While he hates his job as a junior exec at a New York office machine company, he’s become far too complacent to do anything about it. Meanwhile, with nothing to do but putter about the house all day and look after their two kids, April has concocted a scheme that will help them rejuvenate their marriage and their lives: they’ll run off to Paris where she can get a job as a translator at the U.S. embassy while he’ll spend the day finding himself. Yeah, that’ll work.
The Wheelers’ plight seemed old hat to me. The Hours, Far From Heaven, and Mendes’ own American Beauty have all dived into the pool of suburban angst and while Richard Yates’ novel, on which this is based, may have predated them all, Revolutionary winds up being late to the party and offers nothing new to this equation. Infidelity occurs, frustration bubbles over, shouting matches ensue and a requisite tragedy, which is the only escape from this sort of trap, are all executed with the kind of precision only a fine clockmaker can appreciate.
That’s not to say that the film is without merit, as DiCaprio and Winslet’s work makes the film bearable if not totally successful. DiCaprio’s eternal boyishness holds him in good stead here, underscoring Frank’s immaturity and lack of fortitude as does the actor’s ability to show his frustration. Winslet is required to suffer silently for a good part of the time, only to explode when the tension becomes too much for April. You can see in the actress’s eyes that she’s dying a slow death and that a sense of desperation is her constant companion. Kudos also go to Michael Shannon as John Givings, a troubled young man who possesses no filter when it comes to speaking his mind. He’s the only one brave enough to point out how mundane all of their lives are, and while Shannon has only three scenes, they possess an intensity that momentarily frees the film from its moorings. Too bad Mendes couldn’t fan these flames and have the whole film catch fire. By the end, the only thing I came away with is that the secret to having a good marriage is owning an adjustable hearing aid. Having the power to tune out your partner is invaluable.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2009.
