i watched revolutionary road a few days back and it is a really good film. 4 'm's out of five ('m' for matthew in case you're wondering). the acting was top-notch as would be expected from the two leads and the supporting cast were brilliant too. but this was predominantly a story about a husband and a wife. above that, the film is moving and it feels very real, very down-to-earth, something that all of us care about, and would in one way or another, experience.
revolutionary road is in short about a young couple - frank and april wheeler - who, beneath their blissful exterior, are dissatisfied and disillusioned with their lives and more importantly, what they are getting out of it. frank is stuck at a job that he views with disdain, and april is discouraged at her unfulfilled dream of becoming an actress.
and one day, they decide to move to paris, to leave all their responsibilities, their jobs, and their burdens behind, to feel life the way it should be. to really live.
i expected the film to be about a dysfunctional relationship, yet it explored way more than that.
childish, irrational, not practical, not realistic, among others was how some described the wheelers' decision to uproot and move to paris, to live life the way that they want, to feel life the way it should be - to feel whole, and excited, and alive. and this was april's reasoning:
april wheeler: don't you see? that's the whole idea! you'll be able to do what you should have been aloud to do seven years ago, you'll have the time. for the first time in your life, you'll have the time to find out what it is you actually want to do. and when you figure it out, you'll have the time and the freedom, to start doing. frank wheeler: this doesn't seem very realistic. april wheeler: no, frank. this is what's unrealistic. it's unrealistic for a man with a fine mind to go on working year after year at a job he can't stand. coming home to a place he can't stand, to a wife who's equally unable to stand the same things. and you know what the worst part of it is? our whole existence here is based on this great premise that we're special. they we're superior to the whole thing. but we're not. we're just like everyone else! we bought into the same, ridiculous delusion. that we have to resign from life and settle down the moment we have children. and we've been punishing each other for it... who made these rules anyway?
brilliant stuff. who's to say that the life we want to live is unrealistic? indeed, what is foolish is to be restrained, unable to truly live because of "responsibilities", because one thinks of oneself as too grown-up, too mature, too sensible to truly live, to do the things that one enjoys. bullshit. who made that rule anyway? yet is not the very purpose of life to live? to feel alive? and if one isn't living one's life, then what is the point of living anyway?
to feed the children? for what? for them to grow up and be caught in the very same rut as oneself? to be disenchanted, disgrunted adults? dissatisfied about the very same things as oneself? what then is the point?
to buy more things? to own more? a bigger house? a flashier car? and when you do get them, so what? one is still going through the same monotonous and tedious motions everyday, believing one is too good for this, yet unable to do what one truly enjoys. by what? by nothing in fact.
frank wheeler: well i support you, don't i? i work ten hours a day at a job i can't stand! april wheeler: you don't have to! frank wheeler: but i have the backbone not to run away from my responsibilities!
exactly, you don't have to! who said that being responsible equates to sacrificing what one would dearly like to do for something less, for shit (to put it bluntly)? so to give up an opportunity of a life time, one that you claimed to really wish to go; because of money, or maybe just pride - refusing to even consider borrowing as an option- is foolishness, perhaps condescending even, in my books.
read this again, i love it.
and you know what the worst part of it is? our whole existence here is based on this great premise that we're special. they we're superior to the whole thing. but we're not. we're just like everyone else! we bought into the same, ridiculous delusion.
kate winslet delivered this line with such conviction that it really stuck in my mind.
no! you're not above this! no one is above living life to the fullest, not even the beggar on the streets, if he so chooses to be content, to be thankful for what he has, for the kind souls who give them something to eat, to realise the fullness and value of life - so intangible, yet so sacred and precious, yet so very fleeting. in spite of this, no one is too good to be caught in this cul-de-sac, in this "delusion".
and the irony is that it took a "certified lunatic" to deliver the wisest lines, to see reason, to see hope, to see guts what others perceive as childish, irrational, not practical, not realistic.
john givings: you want to play house you got to have a job. you want to play nice house, very sweet house, you got to have a job you don't like.
john givings: hopeless emptiness. now you've said it. plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.
the film ends in a heartrending manner, portraying the futility of it all, the insignificance of all of the toil, how everything came to nought.