Based on Richard Yates' 1961 novel by the same name, Director Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road tells a story of marital discontent amid 1950s conformity. At its center are Frank and April Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet), the "perfect" young couple doomed by their one-time dreams of a grander life. Before the movie's title has even hit the screen, the couple has nearly resorted to physical violence and called each other names you never want to hear a couple call each other. Save for barely five minutes of romantic hopefulness, nearly every scene the couple shares is characterized by nothing other than increasing discontent and division. Although a first-act decision to restart their life by moving to Paris revives the couple's relationship temporarily, its eventual abandonment leaves them worse off than before. And brought to life through an almost telenovela-like script involving the vocalization of almost every feeling going through Frank and April's heads and the spot-on interpretation/commentary of their realtor's insane son John (Michael Shannon), the movie makes sure that we do not miss a beat of the torture at its center.

At the core of Revolutionary Road is the conflict between living versus just going through the motions. It is about the desire to do what you want to do versus what you have to do. It is about the torture of being imprisoned by a life that doesn't feel like your free will or identity are even a part of the picture. As Frank says when he and April first meet, "All I know&ellips; is I want to feel things, really feel them." As April says when others question her plan to leave suburbia for Paris, "If being crazy means living a life as if it matters, then I don't care if we're completely insane." As April tells Frank when she tries to convince him that they simply cannot continue to live life as they are, "It's what you are that's being stifled."

The problem is that although April and Frank may have the same ambiguous life dreams when they meet, five to ten years later, their responses to what life has actually given them are not the same. Frank may not exactly love his job, but when a modicum of recognition and potential enter the picture, it becomes tolerable. Family life in suburbia may not be what Frank imagined for his 30-year-old self, but after he has an affair with a woman from his office and April unexpectedly gets pregnant, he realizes that being a husband and a father is a role he truly does care about.

But as April says to Frank, "I saw a whole other future. I can't stop thinking about it." Because April cannot stop thinking about the life she'd rather be leading, she is incapable of finding any happiness in the life she has. Instead of a partner, Frank becomes her opponent. And instead of blessings, her children become obstacles. As she tells Frank when he confesses his affair to her, she doesn't really care. "I suppose I would if I loved you."

Continue: 1 2