I went and saw Revolutionary Road today. The reason I wanted to see this film is because of the Richard Yates novel, which is excellent. But before I get to the base of my thought, I need to complain first.I went to a matinee that charged me $6.50. I have this movie card thing that if I use it each time I go, I am supposed to get free passes and crap like that. So today I was given a free small soda. "Cool," I thought. So I went to the concession stand and thought I'd get a small popcorn with my free soda. Why not, right? Well, the price of a small popcorn is $5.75. That is absolutely ridiculous. Even with the free drink, I was not going to pay almost the admission fee for a bunch of corn kernels I can pop myself at home for free. Fuck that shit.
Anyway, so I saw the film and have to say it is by far the chattiest film put out by Hollywood I've seen. I agree with Anthony in that the book is definitely better, but the movie was better than I thought since the original dialogue came from Yates and not Hollywood. The directing was mediocre, but there were some nice shots of both Frank and April behind their windows that appear like prison bars, but I've never been impressed with Mendes' directing ability anyway.
I think more could have benefited by showing less. For example, there is an opening scene with the couple screaming at one another on the side of the road. This was poorly placed, I thought, since it's like getting the orgasm before the strip tease. Mendes doesn't allow the characters to work up to their intensity--such as in the final scene of the film, which I thought was much better. By that point you realize why the two of them are so miserable and hate each other, and so narratively it works better.
There are also some moments of "pukey dialogue" where April tells Frank he's the most beautiful thing in the world because he's a "man." (The scene is staged and fake in other words). And this is Leonardo she's speaking about, so it's kind of funny. There is also another cringe moment when she says how she felt so free and wonderful and alive "the first time he made love to her." Barf. I squirmed in my chair. But the initial fighting scene was too much too fast, and even in the much greater and far superior Bergman film Scenes From a Marriage, the couple allows the viewers to get to know them first, before they begin screaming at each other.
I suppose if I'd not read the Yates book and also had never seen the superior Bergman film, I might have thought higher of the Mendes film. Maybe. But I didn't think much of American Beauty, so likely my admiration would not have gone far. Both the Yates novel as well as the Bergman film do an excellent job of getting into the minds of this couple, tearing them down, dissecting their motivations. Bergman is of course more cerebral and philosophical, while Yates is more realistic. With Bergman, you always know you're dealing with artifice since the characters are so intelligent. Scenes From a Marriage the screenplay is one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written--it's up there with Ibsen and Strindberg and O'Neill and you can read a review of the film here.
As for Frank and April Wheeler--the characters in the Yates novel, for lack of better expression, they are doomed. They are in fact incapable of being happy anywhere because they are miserable, ungrateful, very selfish people. Not once did they really consider their kids, for example. Frank was pretty much a wannabe and April a failed actress. Had they moved to Paris, it would not have been long till the both of them were engaging in hanky panky with fellow Parisians. They would have hated themselves there. Though the interesting thing is that there were so many times in the film where they took their surroundings for granted, like one scene where they're walking through a wooded area. Their idea of "hell" is merely themselves, and that is something they'll never learn. Though they are more insightful than most drones in the fact that they realize they're drones who are "just like everyone else."
If you see the film before reading the book, don't let it stop you from reading the book, which is by far the superior work. The film just pretty much acted it out, and there were certainly times I felt my own imagination was better.
