Review: Revolutionary Road

From the very beginning Revolutionary Road makes it clear that it is not going to be an easy film to watch. We’re thrown into the midst of a domestic meltdown and enveloped by an overwhelming sense of frustration and claustrophobia. Sam Mendes pulls no punches in giving us this adaptation of Richard Yates’s 1961 novel. Revolutionary Road is a depressing journey through a maze of self-pity and broken dreams.

According to everyone who knows them, Frank and April Wheeler are “special.” They move into that little house on Revolutionary Road with dreams of greatness. They are there starting their family but they are determined to stay above the boring normalcy of suburbia. They both know that they are better than those around them, one day they may even move to Paris. Of course, reality overcomes them and year after year they find themselves falling deeper into the trap they’ve set for themselves.

Set in 1950’s Connecticut, the film follows the Wheelers at the point in their lives where they realize that their dreams are slipping from their grasps. How special can Frank possibly be in his mid-level job at the same company his father made a living working for? How talented is April when she can’t even make it as an amateur performer in the community theater? If they’re not better than their neighbors, what are they?

The thing about both April and Frank is that neither one of them is very likeable. The longer the movie goes on, the more painful it becomes to watch, the more contemptible they both become. They are living in a world of self-delusion and each expects the impossible from the other. They are on a path leading to their mutual destruction and the only question becomes how many causalities will they cause along the way.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio unite in this Sam Mendes film (for anyone who’s forgotten, we first saw them together in James Cameron’s epic disaster Titanic). I must say that their onscreen relationship has only improved with age. While still a pretty boy, Dicaprio has proved himself a serious actor. The acclaim Winslet has received for both this film and the Reader is well deserved. Their characters may not be likeable, but they’re not supposed to be. Both actors accomplish exactly what they need to and the emotions they choke out of their roles are overwhelming.

The film itself is amazing. The cinematography is gorgeous; Roger Deakins continues to prove himself one of the best cinematographers out there. The production design, costumes, and make-up all work to not only bring to life this 1950’s suburbia, but to give weight to the sense of impending doom even as Frank and April struggle to make things “right.”

The biggest problem in this film is not that we are asked to relate to two people whom have no real redeeming qualities, it’s that Sam Mendes gives us no opportunity for emotional release. The tension builds and builds and builds but there is never a moment of catharsis. We are never allowed to let our tears go. It’s a hard film to watch and a harder film to walk away from.

Revolutionary Road is up there as one of the best films from 2008. However it’s an incredibly hard film to watch, monumentally depressing, and unless you focus solely on it’s technical achievements don’t expect to feel good in anyway after the credits roll.