Revolutionary Road (film)

Revolutionary Road

Original poster
Directed by Sam Mendes
Produced by Bobby Cohen
Sam Mendes
Scott Rudin
Sharan Kapoor
Written by Novel:
Richard Yates
Screenplay:
Justin Haythe
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio
Kate Winslet
Michael Shannon
Richard Easton
Jay O. Sanders
and Kathy Bates
Music by Thomas Newman
Cinematography Roger Deakins
Editing by Tariq Anwar
Studio DreamWorks Pictures
BBC Films
Distributed by Paramount Vantage
Release date(s) December 26, 2008 (limited)
January 23, 2009 (wide)
Running time 119 min.
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $35,000,000
Gross revenue $75,225,074[1]

Revolutionary Road is a 2008 British-American drama film directed by Sam Mendes starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The screenplay by Justin Haythe is based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates. The film opened in limited release on December 26, 2008, and expanded wide on January 23, 2009. This is the first film in which DiCaprio, Winslet and Kathy Bates have co-starred since the 1997 Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox film, Titanic.

Contents

Plot

The setting is suburban Connecticut in the 1950s. Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) meets April (Kate Winslet) at a party. He is a longshoreman, hoping to be a cashier; she wants to be an actress. The Wheeler couple moves to the address 115 Revolutionary Road when April becomes pregnant. Frank and April settle into the normalcy of their life, raising their son Michael (Ty Simpkins) and daughter Jennifer (Ryan Simpkins).

The couple becomes close friends with their realtor Mrs. Helen Givings (Kathy Bates) and her husband Howard (Richard Easton) and neighbours Milly Campbell (Kathryn Hahn) and her husband Shep (David Harbour). To the friends, the Wheelers are the perfect couple, but hidden behind those smiling faces, the couple shares upheavals and tribulations in life. April fails in her attempt to make a career out of acting, while Frank hates the unimportance and monotony of his work. Frank is stuck in the same job that his father worked for 20 years, ultimately fading into history unnoticed. April wants new scenery and a chance to support the family so that Frank can search for his passion.

April recalls how Frank talked enthusiastically about moving back to Paris the first chance he gets. With a failed career, she believes that Paris is the panacea for all their problems. She proposes to Frank that they relocate to Paris. At first Frank just laughs off the idea but then begins to buy into it. The only person who dares to confront the Wheelers' decision is John (Michael Shannon), the troubled son of Mrs. Givings. Frank admits to blunt questioning by John that they want to "leave this place of emptiness and hopelessness."

As the couple prepares to move, two events force them to rethink their decision. Frank, propelled by a carefree attitude brought on by the thought of Paris, turns in a sarcastic piece of work to his nagging boss. Amazingly, his work is considered brilliant by company executives, and he is offered a promotion with better pay. Secondly, April becomes pregnant for the third time. When she reveals it to Frank, she also floats the idea of an abortion. April is desperate to move to Paris by any means necessary, but Frank is disgusted by the thought of abortion.

One day, Frank discovers that April is contemplating taking the abortion into her own hands. He is furious and starts to scream at April, which leads to a serious altercation between them. The next day Frank takes the promotion and tries to start accepting his uneventful life. Hoping to reconcile with April, he admits that he had an affair with a woman assistant at his office. April responds with apathy and tells him that it doesn't matter; her love for Frank is gone.

Following another fight, the couple has a romantic breakfast. April's mood seems to have improved. After bidding good-bye to Frank, she prepares to perform her own abortion, and we see the true reason for the pleasantries of the morning. The self-performed abortion, which goes terribly wrong, proves to be fatal.

The house at 115 Revolutionary Road is acquired by a new couple, and we hear Milly telling the story of the Wheelers to the new couple. We find out that a shattered Frank moves to the city and devotes his life to his kids. The last we see of Frank is him sitting on a park bench while his children play on the swings.

Principal cast

Development

After Richard Yates' novel was published in 1961, director John Frankenheimer considered filming it, but opted to make The Manchurian Candidate instead.[2] Samuel Goldwyn Jr., expressed an interest in making it into a film but others in his studio convinced him that it lacked commercial prospects.[3] In 1965, producer Albert Ruddy bought the rights but did not like the book's ending, and wanted to obscure April's death with "tricky camerawork".[3] He became involved in adapting The Godfather and, five years later, while a writer-in-residence at Wichita State University, Yates offered to adapt his work for the screen. Ruddy had other projects lined up at the time and demurred, eventually selling the rights to actor Patrick O'Neal. The actor loved the book and spent the rest of his life trying to finish a workable screenplay.[3] Yates read O'Neal's treatment of his novel and found it "godawful", but O'Neal refused the writer's repeated offers to buy back the rights. Yates died in 1992, O'Neal two years later.[2]

The project remained in limbo until 2001 when Todd Field expressed interest in adapting it for the screen. However, when told by the O'Neal estate he would be required to shoot O'Neal's script as written, Field stepped away from the material and opted to make Little Children instead.[4] David Thompson eventually purchased the rights for BBC Films.[5] In March 2007, BBC Films established a partnership with DreamWorks, and the rights to the film's worldwide distribution were assigned to Paramount Pictures, owner of DreamWorks. On February 14, 2008, Paramount announced that Paramount Vantage was "taking over distribution duties on Revolutionary Road".[6] The BBC hired Justin Haythe to write the screenplay because, according to the screenwriter, he was "hugely affordable".[3]

Kate Winslet sent producer Scott Rudin the script and he told her that her husband, director Sam Mendes, would be perfect to direct it.[3] She gave Mendes Yates' novel and told him, "I really want to play this part".[7] He read Haythe's script and then the book in quick succession. Haythe's first draft was very faithful to the novel, using large parts of Yates' own language, but Mendes told him to find ways to externalize what Frank and April do not say to each other.[3]

Once Leonardo DiCaprio agreed to do the film, it went almost immediately into production.[3] DiCaprio said that he saw his character as "unheroic" and "slightly cowardly" and that he was "willing to be just a product of his environment".[8] DiCaprio prepared for the role by watching several documentaries about the 1950s and the origin of suburbs. He said that the film was not meant to be a romance and that he and Winslet intentionally avoided films that show them in romantic roles since Titanic.[8] Both actors were reluctant to make films similar to Titanic because "we just knew it would be a fundamental mistake to try to repeat any of those themes".[9] To prepare for the role, Winslet read The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.[10]

Mendes had the cast rehearse for three-and-a-half weeks before principal photography and shot everything in sequence and on location.[11] Actor Michael Shannon said that he did not feel that on the set of the film there were any stars, but "a group of people united by a passion for the material and wanting to honor the book".[12] He said that Winslet and DiCaprio could only make such a good performance as a couple because they had developed a friendship since their work on Titanic. For Shannon, it was more important to prepare for the moment when he walked on the set than being concerned about the movie stars he was working with.[12] On the fight scenes between him and Winslet, DiCaprio said, "So much of what happens between Frank and April in this film is what's left unsaid. I actually found it a real joy to do those fight scenes because finally, these people were letting each other have it."[9] The shoot was so emotionally and physically exhausting for DiCaprio that he postponed his next film for two months.[11]

Mendes wanted to create a claustrophobic dynamic and shot all of the Wheeler house interiors in an actual house in Darien, Connecticut. DiCaprio remembers, "it was many months in this house and there was no escaping the environment. I think it fed into the performances."[13] They could not film in a period accurate house because it would have been too small to shoot inside.[14] Production Designer Kristi Zea is responsible for the "iconic, nostalgic images of quaint Americana", although she says that was "absolutely the antithesis of what we wanted to do".[14] Zea chose for the set of this film furnishings that "middle-class America would be buying at that time".[14]

During the post-production phase, Mendes cut 18 scenes, or 20 minutes to achieve a less literal version that he saw as more in the spirit of Yates' novel.[3]

Reaction

Revolutionary Road had a limited release in the United States at three theaters on December 26, 2008, and a wide release at 1,058 theaters on January 23, 2009. Revolutionary Road has earned $22.9 million at the domestic box office and $51.7 million internationally for a worldwide total of $74.6 million.[15]

Critical reception

Revolutionary Road has received generally positive reviews from critics. It holds a 69% rating from critics on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 190 reviews, with the consensus being "Brilliantly acted and emotionally powerful, Revolutionary Road is a handsome adaptation of Richard Yates' celebrated novel".[16] Metacritic lists it with a 69 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 38 reviews.[17]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said,

“ It takes the skill of stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio and director Sam Mendes to get this film to a place where it involves and moves us — which it finally does — but it is a near thing... Justin Haythe's screenplay does many good things, but it can't escape the arch lingo of the time... and that in turn makes the film's concerns initially feel dated and outmoded as well... Encouraged by Mendes' artful direction, his gift for eliciting naturalness, the core of this film finally cries out to us today, makes us see that the notion of characters struggling with life, with the despair of betraying their best selves because of what society will or won't allow, is as gripping and relevant now as it ever was. Or ever will be.[18] ”

Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News said

“ [the film] comes close but falls short of capturing Richard Yates' terrific novel... the movie — two-thirds Mad Men, one-third American Beauty, with a John Cheever chaser — works best when focusing on the personal. Thankfully, it's there that Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe catch some of Yates' weighty ideas, and where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet succeed in doing the heavy lifting... DiCaprio, round-shouldered and sleepy-eyed, and Winslet, watchful and alert, raise up each other and everything around them. Never once shadowed by Titanic, they suggest, often wordlessly, the box the Wheelers have found themselves in. Whereas the novel is told mostly from Frank's viewpoint, the movie is just as much April's, and Winslet, whether fighting back or fighting back tears, is sensational.[19] ”

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Revolutionary Road four stars out of four, commending the acting and screenplay and calling the film "so good it is devastating". He said of Winslet and DiCaprio, "they are so good, they stop being actors and become the people I grew up around."[20]

Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "faithful, intelligent, admirably acted, superbly shot" and added, "It also offers a near-perfect case study of the ways in which film is incapable of capturing certain crucial literary qualities, in this case the very things that elevate the book from being a merely insightful study of a deteriorating marriage into a remarkable one... Even when the dramatic temperature is cranked up to high, the picture's underpinnings seem only partly present, to the point where one suspects that what it's reaching for dramatically might be all but unattainable — perhaps approachable only by Pinter at his peak."[21] McCarthy later significantly qualified his review, calling Revolutionary Road "problematic" and that it "has some issues that just won't go away".[22] He concludes that Revolutionary Road suffers in comparison to Billy Wilder's The Apartment and Richard Quine's Strangers When We Meet because of its "narrow vision", even arguing that the television series Mad Men handles the issues of conformity, frustration, and hypocrisy "with more panache and precision".[22]

David Ansen of Newsweek said the film "is lushly, impeccably mounted — perhaps too much so. Mendes, a superb stage director, has an innately theatrical style: everything pops off the screen a little bigger and bolder than life, but the effect, rather than intensifying the emotions, calls attention to itself. Instead of losing myself in the story, I often felt on the outside looking in, appreciating the craftsmanship, but one step removed from the agony on display. Revolutionary Road is impressive, but it feels like a classic encased in amber."[23]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film B+ and commented,

“ The film is lavishly dark — some might say too dark — yet I'd suggest it has a different limitation: For all its shattering domestic discord, there's something remote and aestheticized about it. April brings a private well of conflict to her middle-class prison, but Winslet is so meticulous in her telegraphed despair that she intrigues us, moves us, yet never quite touches our unguarded nerves.[24] ”

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "didactic, emotionally overblown critique of the soulless suburbs" and added, "Revolutionary Road is, essentially, a repeat for Mendes of American Beauty... Once more, the suburbs are well-upholstered nightmares and its denizens clueless — other than one estranged male. Clearly, this environment attracts the dramatic sensibilities of this theater-trained director. Everything is boldly indicated to the audience from arch acting styles to the wink-wink, nod-nod of its design. Indeed his actors play the subtext with such fury that the text virtually disappears. Subtlety is not one of Mendes' strong suits."[25]

Rex Reed of The New York Observer called the film "a flawless, moment-to-moment autopsy of a marriage on the rocks and an indictment of the American Dream gone sour" and "a profound, intelligent and deeply heartfelt work that raises the bar of filmmaking to exhilarating."[26]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film "raw and riveting" and commented, "Directed with extraordinary skill by Sam Mendes, who warms the chill in the Yates-faithful script by Justin Haythe, the film is a tough road well worth traveling . . . DiCaprio is in peak form, bringing layers of buried emotion to a defeated man. And the glorious Winslet defines what makes an actress great, blazing commitment to a character and the range to make every nuance felt."[27]

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle voted the film as his best of 2008. He commented, "Finally, this is a movie that can and should be seen more than once. Watch it one time through her eyes. Watch it again through his eyes. It works both ways. It works in every way. This is a great American film."[28]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.[29]

Awards and nominations

Awards
Award Category Recipient(s) Outcome
Academy Awards Best Art Direction Debra Schutt and Kristi Zea Nominated
Best Costume Design Albert Wolsky Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Michael Shannon Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Actress Kate Winslet Nominated
Best Costume Design Albert Wolsky Nominated
Best Production Design Debra Schutt and Kristi Zea Nominated
Best Screenplay – Adapted Justin Haythe Nominated
Costume Designers Guild Excellence in Period Costume Design Albert Wolsky Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Kate Winslet Won
Best Director – Motion Picture Sam Mendes Nominated
29th London Film Critics Circle Awards Actress of the Year Kate Winslet
(for Revolutionary Road and The Reader)		 Won
Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role – Motion Picture Kate Winslet Nominated
Satellite Awards Top 10 Films of 2008 Won
Best Art Direction and Production Design Kristi Zea, Teresa Carriker-Thayer, John Kasarda, and Nicholas Lundy Nominated
Best Film – Drama Nominated
Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
Best Screenplay – Adapted Justin Haythe Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Michael Shannon Won
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Actress Kate Winslet Won
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Best Actress Kate Winslet
(for Revolutionary Road and The Reader)		 Won

Home media release

Revolutionary Road was released in the Region 1 (U.S. and Canada) area on June 2, 2009.

References

  1. ↑ Revolutionary Road Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bailey, Blake (June 26, 2007). "Revolutionary Road—The Movie". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2169033/. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 McGrath, Charles (December 14, 2008). "Kate! Leo! Gloom! Doom! Can It Work?". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/movies/14mcgr.html?_r=1&ref=arts. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  4. ↑ "Trivia." Revolutionary Road at IMDb.com.
  5. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (March 22, 2007). "DiCaprio, Winslet to Star in Road". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961661.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  6. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (February 14, 2008). "New Dates for Eight Under Par". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961661.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  7. ↑ Knegt, Peter (December 22, 2008). "Plumbing the Depths of Revolutionary Road: Sam Mendes on Yates, Kate, and the Pressures of Awards". indieWIRE. http://www.indiewire.com/article/plumbing_the_depths_of_revolutionary_road_sam_mendes_on_yates_kate_and_the_/. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Guzman, Rafer (January 19, 2009). "In Revolutionary Road, Leo DiCaprio just an ordinary guy". Slate. http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/01/13/freetime/doc495e5291d4cc4738928405.txt. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Wong, Grace (January 23, 2009). "DiCaprio reveals joys of fighting with Winslet". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/23/kate.leo/index.html?section=cnn_latest. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  10. ↑ Cochrane, Kira (December 19, 2008). ""I did have moments where I'd say, Oh my God ..."". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/dec/19/kate-winslet-film-the-reader-revolutionary-road. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Wood, Gaby (December 14, 2008). "How Sam became The Man". The Observer. http://www.observer.com/2008/o2/can-love-survive?page=all. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Copley, Rich (January 22, 2009). "Michael Shannon's small part in Revolutionary Road made a big impact". The State. http://www.thestate.com/movies/story/659963.html?RSS=life_and_style. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  13. ↑ Masterson, Lawrie (January 11, 2009). "Leonardo DiCaprio's Hard Road". Herald Sun. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Hillis, Aaron (January 6, 2009). "Revolutionary Road - Evoke an era of suburban life without overdoing it". Variety. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1117998049&categoryid=3247. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
  15. ↑ "Revolutionary Road". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=revolutionaryroad.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-24. 
  16. ↑ "Revolutionary Road Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/revolutionary_road/. Retrieved 2009-01-27. 
  17. ↑ "Revolutionary Road (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/revolutionaryroad. Retrieved 2009-01-27. 
  18. ↑ Turan, Kenneth. "'Revolutionary Road': Strong Performances Steer This 1950s Marital Drama Out of a Period-Picture Trap." Los Angeles Times. December 26, 2008.
  19. ↑ Neumaier, Joe. "Revolutionary Road: Beauty is in the Details of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's Reunion Movie 'Revolutionary Road'." New York Daily News. December 24, 2008.
  20. ↑ Roger Ebert (2008-12-30). "Revolutionary Road (R)". rogerebert.com. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081230/REVIEWS/812309997. Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
  21. ↑ McCarthy, Todd. "Revolutionary Road." Variety. November 17, 2008.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 McCarthy, Todd. "'50s Melodrama Hard to Capture on Film," Variety. January 8, 2009.
  23. ↑ Ansen, David. "Revolutionary Road." Newsweek. November 28, 2008.
  24. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen. "Revolutionary Road." Entertainment Weekly. November 28, 2008.
  25. ↑ Honeycutt, Kirk. "Film Review: Revolutionary Road." The Hollywood Reporter. November 17, 2008.
  26. ↑ Reed, Rex. "Love Asunder." New York Observer. December 16, 2008.
  27. ↑ Travers, Peter. "Revolutionary Road." Rolling Stone. December 25, 2008.
  28. ↑ LaSalle, Mick. "Movie Review: 'Revolutionary Road' Year's Best." San Francisco Chronicle. January 2, 2009.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 29.7 "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2008/toptens.shtml. Retrieved January 11, 2009. 

External links

Films directed by Sam Mendes
1990s
2000s
Road to Perdition (2002) · Jarhead (2005) · Revolutionary Road (2008) · Away We Go (2009)