‘Revolutionary Road’ movie review: DiCaprio, Winslet in heated Mendes drama

Unsentimental but emotionally devastating, Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road is a real downer of a film buoyed by some phenomenal acting. 

Richard Yates’ novel, a rumination on unhappy suburban life, was the first of its kind in 1961, and 47 years later the subject matter cannot hope to have the same relevance, having been beaten to death in recent films like Little Children, which also starred Kate Winslet, and Mendes’ own American Beauty

But this film version of Revolutionary Road might well be the nail in the coffin; after this, you’ll never want to see another portrait of suburban angst again.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as Frank and April Wheeler, a rather unhappily married couple with two children and the best house on Revolutionary Road. 

They met in a bar, April an aspiring actress, Frank a “boy who made her smile” with no discernable goals. They got married, had the kids, Frank got a 9-5 job at the company his father toiled at. April’s dreams of becoming an actress are dashed in the opening scenes, and the descent into hell begins.

They plan to get away from it all. Move to Paris. April can get a well-paying job as a secretary, Frank can finally take some time to figure out what he wants to do with his life. An unplanned pregnancy complicates things. Are they doomed to spend their existence in suburbia? If they are, is it such a bad thing?

There isn’t much plot here; instead, Mendes hammers down the futility of these characters’ existence and the emptiness of their lives until they (and we) just can’t take it anymore. 

We desperately want these people to be happy – be happy with what they have, go to Paris, get a divorce, anything; they’re at each other’s throats throughout the entire film, and we just want it to stop. April is a classic tragic figure, someone who will, perhaps, never be happy, and she’s taking her family down with her. Or maybe it’s Frank’s fault…

Pay close attention to the opening scenes: April’s play and Frank’s reaction to it. The film can be read a number of ways, but in some ways it plays out as a twisted (if indirect) revenge drama as April gets even with her husband for subtly crushing her dreams.

Reunited eleven years after 1997’s Titanic, both Winslet and DiCaprio have come a long, long way. Especially DiCaprio. His quiet, mannered portrayal of Frank anchors the film, and is the best the actor has been. 

Any doubts about him becoming a ‘real’ actor in Scorsese’s films and other ventures should finally be put to rest; he comes closer to Brando here than any other actor in his generation. Winslet has the showier part, and delivers a zealous, maddening performance; her final scenes are devastating. Though it often feels like she doesn’t fit in with the setting, she easily overcomes the (possible?) miscasting.   

Michael Shannon shows up as John Givings, a ‘socially awkward’ young man; his mother (Kathy Bates) thinks it would be good for him to meet April and Frank, the perfect couple. He ruthlessly examines and deconstructs their lives and plans in two scenes that sit at the heart of the film; Shannon scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his work.

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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