Revolutionary Road
(dir. Sam Mendes)
BBC Films
After ten year's of marriage, Frank Wheeler is stuck in a job he despises, while his wife April hates her role as a suburban housewife on Revolutionary Road. Together they try and get back to their dream of leaving it all behind and living a different life in France, but as their plans are put into motion they begin to question what they really want from life.
It's always tough to make an impartial analysis of a the adaption of a favourite book, and this is no exception. Many elements of the story have been dropped or re-jigged, and an awkward run through some exposition makes for a clumsy start to the film. Once the pace settles down however, the film stays relatively true to the mood and atmosphere of the original.
Both the story and the atmosphere of the film have much in common with TV's Mad Men and highlights of the film show the suit-and-tie nature of working in New York in the 50's. There's perhaps not enough of these moments to build a large-scale image of the times and the film ends up being on a smaller scale, which is almost stage like. While the casting of DiCaprio and Winselt brings and instant back-story to the young lovers, it also causes a few problems. Winslet's American accent is sometimes shaky, momentarily snapping you out of the film and while DiCaprio is cast unconvincingly young as the 20-something Frank, he also doesn't quite fit the 30-something version of the same character.
None the less, the strong, thought-provoking themes of the book are evoked well. While it may not be a flawless classic worthy of a handful of Oscars, the film has much to offer and comes well recommended.
18th Feb 2009 - Tumblr
3.5