Adapted from the revealing novel by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road is an incisive portrait of an American marriage seen through the eyes of Frank (three-time Academy Award® nominee Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (five-time Academy Award® nominee Kate Winslet) Wheeler. Yates’ story of 1950’s America poses a question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since: can two people break away from the ordinary without breaking apart?
Frank and April have always seen themselves as special, different, ready and willing to live their lives based on higher ideals. So, as soon as they move into their new house on Revolutionary Road, they proudly declare their independence from the suburban inertia that surrounds them and determine never to be trapped by the social confines of their era.
Yet for all their charm, beauty and irreverence, the Wheelers find themselves becoming exactly what they didn’t expect: a good man with a meaningless job whose nerve has gone missing; a less-than-happy homemaker starving for fulfillment and passion; an American family with lost dreams, like any other.
Driven to change their fates, April hatches an audacious plan to start all over again, to leave the comforts of Connecticut behind for the great unknown of Paris. But when the plan is put in motion, each spouse is pushed to extremes – one to escape whatever the cost, the other to save all that they have, no matter the compromises.
Directed by Sam Mendes (Academy Award® winner American Beauty), from a screenplay by Justin Haythe, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and features an accomplished supporting cast including Academy Award® winner Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn (Boeing-Boeing) Michael Shannon (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, BUG) and David Harbour (Awake). The film’s producers are John Hart, Scott Rudin, Sam Mendes and Bobby Cohen; and the executive producers are Marion Rosenberg, David M. Thompson and Henry Fernaine.
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"Ignore the poster – this is a long way from a love story"
This film had a lot to contend with. I was tired, I didn’t know a lot about the film, apart from the fact it was based on a book. To be brutally frank, I was expecting to fall asleep. Plaudits must therefore go to Sam Mendes, the director, that I was kept interested for the entire film.
I’m sat here writing this and my flat mate has just asked me if he should go and see it. Bearing in mind the essential plot of this film is about the life of a young couple (not exactly bloke film material) I surprised even myself when I told him he should.
I found it a bit harder to explain myself though. The film per se didn’t blow my socks off, but the cast delivered such varied and intriguing performances that I was continuously wondering what on earth could happen next. I swear, some of the performances in this film are so good that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few golden men in the hands of the assembled cast.
For me, the contrast in the performances is what really sells this film. The two leads, Di Caprio and Winslet who play the aforementioned young couple, are very strong, enough to make you really feel for the characters they are playing. My personal favourites however, have to be the plethora of minor characters that provide a level of very black humour to this film. Due to the rather dark nature of the film at times, it almost felt wrong to be laughing – whether or not it’s because we as critics have no soul I’m not sure, but the contrast provided a real edge to the film that I very much enjoyed.
I suppose then that I really shouldn’t have found it difficult to tell him why to go and watch it – I’ve just answered that above. Give me a minute, I’ll go tell him………