Click to play videoCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Direction: Sam Mendes
Twelve years since we witnessed their smouldering chemistry in Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunite for director Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road, a 50s drama about a suburban couple in Connecticut whose marriage is falling to bits.
Adapted from Richard Yates' novel, the film focuses on the young couple – Frank and April Wheeler – disappointed dreamers both, who wonder how their lives came to be so different than their aspirations, and who question whether they have the strength to make a change.
Brutally honest and uncompromising, Revolutionary Road works mainly on the strength of its leads. Mendes works on a sparse canvas, shoots mostly indoors, and gives his actors plenty dialogue but barely any action. The film is a heart-rending account of marital failure and of thwarted ambitions.
Leonardo DiCaprio is in peak form as Frank Wheeler, bringing layers of depth and emotion to the part of a defeated man. And Kate Winslet's performance is the stuff of dreams; she dazzles as the crushed woman who wakes up to the horror that her life will be ruled by a chauvinist with no resolve.
Winslet constructs a wholesome character in April Wheeler, then takes her apart piece by piece. Watch her in that chilling scene at the end of the film where she prepares breakfast for a husband who fails to recognise the pain behind her smile. It's a devastating moment in the film, and further proof that Winslet is indeed the finest actress of her generation.
Revolutionary Road is a tough watch, uncomfortable even as you witness up close and personal the tiny differences, then the verbal spats, then the violent outbursts that eventually lead to the breakdown of this seemingly perfect marriage. But ultimately it's a remarkable film because few movies even address such uncomfortable truths. If you find it slow and stifling at times, then remember that's exactly how it intends to be, it's a mirror to the lives of quiet desperation that its protagonists lead.
I'm going with four out of five and two big thumbs up for director Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road. It's an unsettling film that gnaws at you; it's also the best film you'll see in a long time.
Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
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