Kate Winslet won a well-deserved Oscar this year – for the wrong performance. She did as much as could be expected from any actress in The Reader, a bloated, sensationalistic, preposterous story, in which her performance seemed to convince Academy voters. Perhaps those same voters might care to rent Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS?

Revolutionary Road is the far greater film, and her performance is wonderful – subtle, nuanced, and breathtaking. This story of the disintegration of a suburban marriage, circa 1955, can be seen as the flipside to Leave It To Beaver. In that still comforting TV series from the late 1950’s – early 1960’s, the family was always happy and the parents ramrod-straight and dependably loving. As played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Winslet, Frank and April Wheeler are squelched, bitter, and unfulfilled by their drone-like existence in a Connecticut suburb. April’s perhaps whimsical solution is to throw everything away and move to Paris, where Frank can pursue his imagined artistic sensibilities, to be supported by April. Frank, equally whimsically, comes around to this viewpoint in fairly short order, although not before haughtily scorning April and her ridiculous ideas. He just as quickly changes his mind when offered a better position at his hated faceless workplace. Oh, and he also thoughtlessly indulges in a meaningless affair with his secretary (Zoe Kazan, director Elia’s granddaughter). After a series of arguments which invariably devolve into personal insults, and very nearly into violence, April too indulges herself with her idolatrous next-door-neighbor.

Haven’t these people heard about the pleasures of literature or French and Italian films (that they could have seen in nearby New York City)? I guess the world is filled with people like this – they sure make for good melodrama, I must admit. The penultimate crescendo is reached when the son (Michael Shannon, nominated for Best Supporting Actor) of their real estate agent (Kathy Bates), who, in his mentally ill way, seems to utter only core truths, which is the last thing the Wheelers need, and sends both of them off the deep end. I won’t mention the details of the final crescendo, but only say that it is the final nail in these devastated lives. – [DVD]

Drama/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 6/2/09

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