Revolutionary Road (2008)
Revolutionary Road is a 2008 British-American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and 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.
Plot
Set in 1955, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) move to Revolutionary Road in a Connecticut suburb, and have a daughter and a son.
April is dissatisfied with her life as a suburban housewife, and Frank despises his marketing job at Knox Business Machines, where his now-deceased father worked for twenty years in a similar position. The Wheelers feel they are unique and special, but trapped in the conformity of life in the suburbs, where they moved to raise their children. From time to time they have bitter arguments, with Frank berating April and acting out physically.
On Frank’s thirtieth birthday he seduces a young secretary from his office, and begins to sleep with her on occasion. Returning home late, April surprises him with a birthday cake and a proposal that they move to Paris, with April working as a secretary to support the family so that Frank can discover what he truly wants to do in life. Frank is reluctant at first but ultimately embraces the idea, and the renewed optimism breathes fresh life into their relationship. Colleagues and friends react politely to the couple’s decision, but tell each other they consider it to be immature or impractical.
In the meantime, Frank’s talent at his job earns him some recognition, and April becomes pregnant again. April wants an abortion and has bought a device she has heard is safe if used in the first twelve weeks. Frank disapproves. Later, Frank is offered a promotion and raise at work. Eventually he tells April that for the sake of the unborn baby he has decided not to go to Paris. Later April has sex with their neighbor and friend, Shep Campbell.
The Wheelers are friends with local realtor Helen Givings and her husband Howard, who occasionally visit with their adult son John, a former mathematician who now lives in a mental institution. John has no inhibition about asking the Wheelers direct personal questions and offering his blunt assessment of their dissatisfaction with marriage, work, and life, to the embarrassment of his parents. The Wheelers are interested in him for his perception and honesty. However, when John learns the Wheelers have cancelled their trip to Paris, he becomes agitated and begins to insult them, saying he feels sorry for them and their unborn baby. This leads to an argument, in which Frank tells April he wishes she had chosen an abortion. April tells Frank she does not love him anymore, and in fact hates him.
April runs into the woods and asks to be left alone. She returns and, the next morning, calmly acts the part of a supportive housewife. When Frank leaves for the day she attempts to perform an abortion with her device, which goes wrong, and she dies later that day in the hospital. Frank moves to the city with the children. The neighbors’ lives carry on and they tell each other in various ways that they disapproved of the Wheelers.
Production
Director John Frankenheimer considered filming the Richard Yates novel soon after its publication but opted to make The Manchurian Candidate instead. In 1967, producer Albert Ruddy bought the property for $15,500. 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. 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 died two years later, and 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. David Thompson eventually purchased the rights for BBC Films. 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, The Hollywood Reporter reported Paramount announced that Paramount Vantage was “taking over distribution duties on Revolutionary Road”.
The movie was directed by Sam Mendes, the husband of Kate Winslet and an Oscar-winning director for American Beauty. The producers of the film are Scott Rudin, who was previously working with Kate Winslet on The Reader before he left the production over a dispute about the release date and has had his name taken off the credit list.
The film was shot on location in Beacon Falls, Bethel, Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Redding, Shelton, Southport, Stamford, Thomaston and Trumbull (all in Connecticut), Westchester County, and various sites in New York City, including Grand Central Terminal, Tribeca and Lower Manhattan.
The film marks the first time Winslet worked with husband Sam Mendes. DiCaprio, Winslet and Bates had previously worked together on the 1997 film Titanic.
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.” Kristi Zea chose for the set of this film furnishings that “that middle-class America would be buying at that time.”
Box office
The film had a limited release in the United States at 3 theaters on December 26, 2008 and a wide release at 1,058 theaters on January 23, 2009. As of February 22, 2009 Revolutionary Road has earned $20,830,812 at the domestic box office and $42,984,967 internationally.
Awards and nominations
By missing out on an Academy Award nomination, Kate Winslet became only the second Actress to win the Golden Globe for Best Lead Actress in a Drama without receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Due to the difference in rules between the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, Winslet’s performance in The Reader was considered a leading one by The Academy, despite winning the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance. According to Academy rules, an actor or actress may receive only one nomination in a single category. Due to Winslet’s performance in ‘The Reader’ being nominated, her performance in this film became ineligible.
Cast & Credits
- Directed by: Sam Mendes
- Produced by: Bobby Cohen, Sam Mendes, Scott Rudin
- Written by: Justin Haythe, Based on the novel by Richard Yates
- Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, Richard Easton, Zoe Kazan, Jay O. Sanders
- Music by: Thomas Newman
- Cinematography: Roger Deakins
- Editing by: Tariq Anwar
Other Information
- Studio: DreamWorks Pictures, BBC Films
- Distributed by: Paramount Vantage
- Release dates: December 26, 2008 (limited); January 23, 2009 (wide)
- Running time: 119 min.
- Country: United States, United Kingdom
- Language: English
Links
Francesca Chillemi – Italian Model, Actress
Armored - 2009