FBEXanthopoul
Jan 21st 2012, 16:05
www.unsungfilms.com by Angeliki Coconi
Richard Yates’ 1961 novel, Revolutionary Road details the broken dreams of a married couple with children, living in 1950s suburbia. By no means a happy or optimistic book, it kills any hope that this couple might get away from the boring and predictable kind of life that the time, the place and the general mindset of American 1950s suburbia has created. Not only do they surrender to it, but they keep hoping that their discontent is what will ultimately save them and get them out of their miserable life. Feeling special, thanks to their big dreams, they keep them at just that: dreams.
The English director Sam Mendes is known for his contempt towards American dull suburban life, and American Beauty allowed him to poke this life and the kind of people that live it, more sarcastically than anyone had ever done it until that point. This is why, in his adaptation of Yates’ novel, it becomes obvious from as early as the first scene, that Mendes is in his element. Very rarely does a film adaptation do its source book justice, but in the case of Revolutionary Road, the film stands next to the novel worthily, and where the book surpasses in subtext, the movie wins in emotion. The book lays out a beautiful scenery, and the movie faithfully evokes. The book’s character’s suffer, and the movie’s Wheelers explode. Pain in the book, misery and hopelessness in the film.
Frank Wheeler (played in the film by Leonardo DiCaprio) is the husband and father who works in the same company that his father worked, after having given up on his dreams concerning travelling, reading, living life in its fullest and not turning into his father. April Wheeler (portrayed in Mendes’ movie by Kate Winslet) is the wife and mother, who stays home during the day, looking after the house and their two children, after having accepted that the ambitious man she once fell in love with is long gone, and that her life now is as boring and plain as every other person’s in the neighbourhood. When she finally takes things into her own hands and tries to convince her husband to move and leave this life behind, their long lost spark returns for a while, only for it to disappear again after a very brief amount of time, and for the Wheelers to finally come to terms with the fact that they are not special; they are just average.
Overall, the film remains faithful to the novel’s plot and dialogue, and does a great job in staying close to not only the two protagonists, but also the secondary characters, caring about the emotions and frustrations they experience. And again, so does the book, and Yates is warm towards his subjects, but manages to keep a bit more distance from them. He feels for what they’re going through, but it’s not his place to judge or take sides. Mendes seems to get a bit closer to them, understanding their feeling and desires, but more than anything, seeing eye to eye with them in the whole anti-dull-suburbia mentality. Yates feels for them, whereas Mendes relates to them.
Most reviews I have read on Yates’ Revolutionary Road are highly praising and admiring of the writer and his work. On which I agree, and I, myself, am one of the book’s biggest fans. However, the film has not managed to win audiences and critics over as much. The most common reason for that, is the fact that most people feel that Mendes’ take is not worthy of the material that the book so generously provided him with. Even though I’d normally agree, and it is very rarely that I think of any movie adaptation as equal to the book it’s originated from, Revolutionary Road’s case is different, I believe that Mendes has done a great job, standing equally next to Yates’ flawless novel. Both DiCaprio’s and Winslet’s performances are excellent, once again proving us that there’s no context that they can’t fully convince us in, and Mendes’ direction, as well as Roger Deakins’ photography become almost vital antagonists in the story, looking beautiful but dead, and keeping the real characters prisoners in manicured lawns and white picket fences. And both Yates and Mendes remind us as successfully, that it takes a lot more than just living on Revolutionary Road, to make a revolutionary.
Angeliki Coconi at www.unsungfilms.com
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