My grandparents still consider the 1950’s to be the golden age of pure, unblemished Americanism. A time when teenagers were respectful, parents were bright, smiling examples of friendly authority, sex was post-marital and marriage was a time of apple pies and cheerful strolls down the charming neighborhood lane. I don’t know at the moment if my grandparents have seen Revolutionary Road, but rarely do movies come along when the opinions of our elders would almost surely prove to be enormously valuable and insightful.
The movie is based on the novel by Richard Yates, which attacked the very normality and pleasant conformity of the 1950’s that forms the basis of so much of the modern nostalgia about it today. There has been a lot of expectation about the movie that would bring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet together again for the first time in more than a decade, but the romance that they share in Revolutionary Road could not possibly be more different from the one they developed on the Titanic.
They are Frank and April Wheeler, an outwardly charming husband and wife who live in a beautiful dream house on Revolutionary Road. They radiate an atmosphere of perfection and happiness and are loved by the neighbors. We meet them just after they’ve made what they promised each other was only a temporary move from Manhattan to the sprawling suburbs. The movie begins with April in an unsuccessful play, and we learn very quickly about their relationship in the car on the way home as Frank thoughtfully assures her that it’s okay that she didn’t become an actress, it’s not her fault that the play was lousy, and then in the fight that ensues, Frank tells her that she acts “sick” when she gets mad like this.
It seems that the most important thing that Frank and April embody about the traditional 1950s couple was the routine sacrificing of dreams upon the altar of conformity and fulfilling expectations. April dreams of a romantic life in Paris, and Frank has artistic ambitions as well. But he is stuck in a job that he hates despite a good salary, they have two kids already and a third accidentally on the way, and adultery’s going on left and right.
April suggests that they drop everything and move to Paris where, with money that she could make working combined with whatever they could get for the house, they could live comfortably until he could get on his feet artistically and they could both live the lives they have always dreamed of. They are doing what is expected of them already, but they’re both deeply unhappy and they see no improvement ahead. When April suggests that they move to Paris, Frank initially scoffs but ultimately agrees, and plans are set in motion.
It is one of the movie’s more successful tragic moments in the way that everyone Frank and April know react to the news that they are moving. Responses range from friendly disbelief to outward remarks of irrespnsibility and suggestions that such a move would be “irresponsible.” It’s hard to watch Frank and April let go of their dreams when it was right in their grasp.
It’s not unrealistic, ladies and gentlemen. It’s uncommon and unexpected, but unrealistic? Irresponsible? I should hope not! It’s commonly believed to be irresponsible and unrealistic, but it’s not, trust me. I’m doing it myself. I left a job in Los Angeles two years ago that paid well but that I didn’t like, and I’ve been living in China (decidedly less romantic than Paris, I admit) ever since. I now have a job that pays less than I made in LA, but my lifestyle is much more comfortable and I work 10 hours a week, which leaves me time to pursue my artistic endeavors. See how that works?
Granted, I don’t have any kids, but I also didn’t have a house to sell to put together some money to support myself while I found work. “I just think people are better off doing some kind of work that they actually like,” Frank complains. I tend to agree.
But ultimately life gets in the way, as they say. A gossipy real estate agent, played perfectly by Kathy Bates, makes friends with April and nervously asks if she might bring over her son John, who has been in a mental institution and who she thinks might benefit from meeting a happy couple like April and Frank. 
April agrees, but when John comes over, it seems that his only mental problem is an inability to adhere to accepted models of conformity, which manifests itself mostly in the form of cutting through other peoples’ facades like warm butter and laying bare the sad, bitter reality of their lives. When he does this with April and Frank, the results are not pretty, but they are some of the best movie moments of 2008.
Kate and Leo both approach perfection in their performances. Both of them have appeared in other brilliant films in 2008 (Kate in The Reader and Leo in Body of Lies), but in Revolutionary Road their performances reach such a level of pitch and depth that, when combined, they reverberate against each other and turn into something entirely different. If there were an Oscar for the best combination of two performances, there would be no need for any other nominees.
Revolutionary Road is not the most uplifting film of the year (although it’s also not nearly as depressing as, say, Rachel Getting Married), but it is definitely among the most important. It’s not so much that the movie attacks conformity, but that it attacks that little voice inside us that prevents us from doing what we really want in life because it goes against the accepted norm. Watching the movie kind of takes a bite out of you, but it takes a bite of that part of you that gets in the way of your dreams.
The Bean Meter
5 Beans out of 5.
