Caught in the dynamics of a relationship

Revolutionary Road
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio,Kate Winslet
Director: Sam Mendes
Rating: ***

Justin Haythe and Richard Yates adapt Richard Yates’ novel, a stirring 1961 drama about marital discord set in the ‘50s American suburbia for Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road.

The story is about a typical American couple April (Kate Winslet) and Frank Wheeler (Leonardo Di Caprio) living the ideal life in Connecticut. She dreams of becoming an actress while he works in a company marketing computers.

They are young, well-maintained, beautiful parents of two bright children — envy of all their suburban neighbours and colleagues, they appear to have the ideal life… But things are not as ideal as they seem. There is a lingering undercurrent of dissatisfaction and the couple seem to have fallen into the rut of routine domesticity. The golden couple are piqued by the dreariness of ordinary life.

Both try to alleviate the discontent through their own individual and unique ways. April tries to get Frank to agree to move to Paris while Frank tries to recapture his individual potency by having an affair with a colleague.

Slowly and steadily the couple slip into a quagmire of discontent that they find difficult to get out of. Sam Mendes manages to create a raw and stinging view of suburban marital discord, bringing out nuances of emotional discontent and misunderstanding that is at once affecting and immensely painful to watch.

Both Di Caprio and Winslet actually look like they belong together as Frank and April. Their natural behaviour and interaction setting a level of believability that is hard to rub off. Winslet is amazingly life-like. Di Caprio on the other hand manages to provide a foil that fits effectively into Mendes unique style.

The problem with the film is not its execution but its thematic datedness. The period setting though perfectly recreated seems out of sync with today’s world.