Revolutionary Road

[Tayl405]

Has anyone seen this movie yet? Any thoughts? I am finding that I came away from the movie with a totally different opinion of their lives and relationship than others. I sympathized with Kate Winslet's character and it seems that so many people don't understand her at all.

I don't want to spoil the movies for those who haven't seen it, but if anyone has I would love to hear what you thought. I took a lot away from the movie, emotionally.

[Schecter_Guy]

It was interesting, but I didn't think it was as good as everyone says it was. With that being said. It really hit home though the difficulty of maintaining a relationship when you can't even get your own act together. As I was watching it I told my Mom basically been there done that. A lot of the stuff that went on in the movie I could totally relate to.

[DaneCA]

I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, exactly, but it made me think. As I was leaving the movie theater, I noticed that most of the audience was completely silent so I guess they were deep in thought, too. It was definitely intense.

I empathized with Kate Winslet's character, too, though I can't agree with what it appeared she was planning on doing before her plans got cut short. (I'm trying not to ruin the ending; sorry if this is becoming too convoluted!) I empathized with everyone in the movie to a certain extent.

Mostly, the movie made me not really want to get married. I know it's only a movie, but it also made me wonder about the married couples I do know.

[drummer]

I haven't seen it yet, but I really want to. Richard Yates (the author of Revolutionary Road) is one of my favorite authors. He's incredible. His other books followed similar stories - suburban discontent, unhappy marriages, etc...I highly recommend his books if you're into that sort of thing. They're downers, but really good too.

[DCgirl]

Mostly, the movie made me not really want to get married. I know it's only a movie, but it also made me wonder about the married couples I do know.

Me too! It made me question if marriage really is worth it (especially in this day and age when women do not need to depend on a man for anything). I wonder if the married people that I know actually are happy...or if they just bought in to the dream.

[QuarterLiferAmy]

Has anyone seen this movie yet? Any thoughts?

I haven't seen the movie yet. However, I am reading the book.

I ran into my parents after they had watched the movie. They seemed really sad :( UGH. My Dad went home and decided to watch some Frasier episodes after the movie because RR was too depressing and needed a laugh.

On another note, I watched 'The Reader' yesterday. It was superb! A definite must see.

[NewMrs.]

Has anyone seen this movie yet? Any thoughts? I am finding that I came away from the movie with a totally different opinion of their lives and relationship than others. I sympathized with Kate Winslet's character and it seems that so many people don't understand her at all.

I don't want to spoil the movies for those who haven't seen it, but if anyone has I would love to hear what you thought. I took a lot away from the movie, emotionally.


I saw the movie this weekend. I really liked it, and my husband really disliked it.

Honestly, the movie was very disturbing and it is definitely not for everybody. However, I enjoyed the overall theme. Still, I really wish that it had ended differently.

I guess that one of the things that I wondered about was this: Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio's character) really hated his job. His wife April (Kate Winslet) thought that if they moved to Paris, he could quit his job that he hated and she would get a job instead, and the change would improve their relationship. However, I wondered, what if they went to France and she got a job that she really hated in order to support them? Wouldn't she end up resenting him, and they would be back where they started, except in a foreign country with dwindling savings?

Interestingly enough, my cousin and her husband kind of did the same thing that Frank and April planned to do. Last year, they sold their house, packed up their three kids, and the entire family moved from Pennsylvania to London so that my cousin's husband could go to graduate school in London. They had talked about doing this for years, but frankly I was a little bit surprised when they actually followed through with it. Its cool that they were able to pursue this.

[NewMrs.]

Me too! It made me question if marriage really is worth it (especially in this day and age when women do not need to depend on a man for anything). I wonder if the married people that I know actually are happy...or if they just bought in to the dream.

See, I didn't really see it as a critique of married life. Instead, I saw it more as a critique of the costs associated with buying into a certain, "American" way of life. It seems to me to be a trap that even single people fall into.

I drew a lot of parallels between Frank and April's lives in 1955 and a lot of the lives of people I know, even before the mortgage crash and the credit crunch and the financial crisis. I know people who graduated from college, moved away from home for their first "real" jobs, and then bought into the mentality that they had to buy into a certain way of life. This life included the new construction home, and the expensive furniture and possessions. They were then trapped in jobs that they hated in order to finance this lifestyle.

I know people who wanted to change their lifestyles, but they couldn't, because doing so would mean that they would have to give up their house. Frank and April had the same problem. They wanted to find a different way to live, but they struggled to find the guts to give up their comfortable house, their possessions, and their superficial friendships. They just felt themselves tied down to all of this stuff.

[Minipan]

I haven't seen the movie, but I've read the book.

I think most people, on some level, can relate to the disillusionment of the American Dream and the feelings of, "is this really it?" Most of us have probably felt trapped at some point by societal pressures at the same time that we want nothing more than to run away and be or do something totally different.

I like that the story is set right between the conservative cookie-cutter era of the 50's and the liberal revolution of the 60s.

[bluespoon]

SPOILERS AHEAD

Before seeing it I watched an interview with Sam Mendes (the director) on Charlie Rose. It's a great interview - I recommend watching it if you've seen the movie because he says some really insightful stuff. Like he was saying how it wasn't so much about going to Paris itself but the idea of Paris, or this idea that they could do something new and different and have it change everything for the better.

I liked the movie, definitely thought provoking, the acting was fantastic (I love Winslet and DiCaprio, two of my favorite actors.) and even visually it was great (LOVE the scene of the 'sea' of men in hats commuting to work.)

I actually found DiCaprio's character to be the most interesting....he had his wife pressuring him to 'do what he really wants to do' while at the same time feeling pressure at work and trying to figure out what HE really wanted not what he thought he was supposed to want or even what he wasn't supposed to want. I think ultimately he found he could be happy with his life as it was. April (Winslet) on the other hand couldn't at all and I'm thinkin she probably wouldn't have been any happier if she was in Paris or not.

See, I didn't really see it as a critique of married life. Instead, I saw it more as a critique of the costs associated with buying into a certain, "American" way of life. It seems to me to be a trap that even single people fall into.

Yeah I agree. Makes you think, am I doing this because of the idea of it or because I really want to?

[DCgirl]

***SPOILER***





Did anyone else think that Kate Winslet's charachter, April, might have been bipolar? She exhibited all the signs. Also, I'm not surprised that Leo's character was 'ok' with staying put....after all, he had a mistress on the side and was finally getting praised at work. I really felt sorry for April and feel like this story occurs a lot in modern life (e.g. sending out a fake image of a happy life/couple/marriage).

[fuzmiq]

***SPOILER***
Also, I'm not surprised that Leo's character was 'ok' with staying put....after all, he had a mistress on the side and was finally getting praised at work.

I really loved this movie. To me, it was just about as perfect as a movie can get. I didn't know it was based on a novel before I watched it, but as I was watching it, I was thinking "wow, a Hollywood movie with amazing writing. I am shocked that it wasn't based on a novel." (ah, well)


****Spoiler*****




I can't recall which scene it was, but after the promotion was offered to Frank I thought, "Frank is sacrificing April." (Obviously, I didn't know in the end how true that idea would be)

And April was, in fact, different. She was forward thinking and unconventional and that was both intriguing to people (her neighbors and the realtor) and disturbing (ultimately Frank). Most people wouldn't bat an eyelash in 2009 at a woman trying to get an abortion.

April confused Frank as being like her. He wasn't at all like her. He was fine with "the suburbs" and everything they represented. But in all honesty, Frank didn't know what he wanted out of life.

As, DCGirl said, the reason why he was okay with it was because his life was fine. He had the wife AND the mistress. He was getting the accolades at work. What did April get?? She got more kids, more housework, less attention from the hubby (as he is cheating), the realization that her marriage is a sham, dashed dreams (acting and her ticket out!)...Who could blame her for wanting something different!?

[Tayl405]

I agree with the above posts, 100%.

I don't believe, though, that April was bipolar. I think she was switching gears because she really wanted to be happy in the life she was in. It just wasn't in her nature to be content with a simple life, which drove her crazy.

The movie made me really afraid of getting married. I think a big part of the problem for them was that they had to consult someone else in everything they did. If they had been alone they could have pursued their dreams and hopefully found happiness. But they thought at one point that they wanted the "American Dream".

I also think Frank's character was an absolute jerk from the get-go (how about the scene after her play? What an a**!). I would go nuts being married to someone like him, the affair aside.

[learningtofly]

For me I don't think Frank was more satisfied with his life, he was just more able to lie to himself. He is the example of a person who let the external reality change his internal reality, whereas April could not and when her internal dreams were killed, she also physically died.

Maybe Frank's continuing existence is a comment on how those seeming to live the postcard picture life is really dead on the inside.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, but the most interesting thing for me was the 'insane' guy on release from the mental hospital. I thought that character was the key to the entire film. He really questioned if the glossy life we're all supposed to have is in fact a collective madness, and actually what is madness as a definition. Is madness just being different from the majority? Or is madness killing the important things in life for the unimportant?

Anyway, I really enjoyed this film, really thought provoking. I can go on and on analysing it. Like for example it's glossy look and the sense of quiet, unsaid undercurrent. The style of the film reflects its message - the real life and passion missing from a materialistically perfect exterior.

The only bone to pick is it's kind of similar to Sam Mendes' American Beauty. But this film was harsher, the theme more starkly presented. I felt it wasn't plot or character driven, but a kind of philosophical puzzle that exposes a logical flaw in our collective thinking.

AND I think it directly applies to our QLC's. After graduation we're at that point of being pressured to follow the cookie cutter, be like our friends, follow the mould. "Be someone" - as the Frank's boss says to Frank to lock him into the job. We're afraid that if we don't follow the mould we'd never amount to anything - when it's the other way round.

Anyway I'll stop now. :D