Revolutionary Road (2008)

Director:

Sam Mendes

Writers (WGA):

Justin Haythe (screenplay)
Richard Yates (novel)

Release Date:

23 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.

Plot Keywords:

Suburb | Connecticut | Children | Office | New York City

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 24 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Frank Wheeler
Kate Winslet	...	April Wheeler
Kathy Bates	...	Mrs. Helen Givings
Michael Shannon	...	John Givings
Kathryn Hahn	...	Milly Campbell
David Harbour	...	Shep Campbell
Dylan Baker	...	Jack Ordway
Richard Easton	...	Mr. Howard Givings
Zoe Kazan	...	Maureen Grube
Jay O. Sanders	...	Bart Pollack
Max Baker	...	Vince Lathrop
Max Casella	...	Ed Small
Ryan Simpkins	...	Jennifer Wheeler
Ty Simpkins	...	Michael Wheeler
Christopher Fitzgerald	...	Party Guest #1

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44282) | UK:15 | Netherlands:12 | South Africa:13LS | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Ireland:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Czech Republic:15 | Finland:K-11 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Norway:11 | Germany:12 (f) | South Korea:18 | Brazil:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Sweden:7 | Spain:13 | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Singapore:M18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Australia:M | Mexico:B15 | Ireland:18 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Beacon Falls, Connecticut, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

Director Sam Mendes opted to watch the monitor from another room while directing the love scene between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Frank eats lunch with Maureen, the olive and the amount of liquid in Maureen's martini glass fluctuate throughout the scene.

Quotes:

April Wheeler:You're just some guy who made me laugh at a party once.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Orange British Academy Film Awards (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Happy Birthday

Book 10/10 - Film 8/10

I went to see this at an advanced screener in Leicester Square last night. Kate Winslett chatted about the film on stage afterward. I went as one of those people who'd read the book and consider that source material to be amongst the best literature I'd ever read. I was wondering if and how the film could match up. My prior concerns were about how accurate the film would be. Well, there's nothing to worry about there. Mendes has created a near carbon copy of the book, the locations, characters and scenes are all exactly as I 'saw' them on the page. Nothing (as far as I could tell) is portrayed out of order, no extra characters are introduced, and no primary characters are dropped or altered. The acting is 100% perfect. The mies-en-scene is perfect. Absolutely nothing could or should have been done differently. So why not 10/10? The problem lies in the fact that Yates' novel is a literary one, much of the essence of the experience of the story is realized by Yates with just the right turn of phrase or choice of word. How does a director set about depicting or capturing this visually? I don't think he really can, he needs to use cinematic tricks and devices to inject resonance, the same resonance Yates achieves with that turn of phrase. But in being so (probably rightly) concerned about being true to the source material, the film somehow comes up a little flat as a film going experience, a sort of American Beauty without the crucial stylistic bells and whistles. Kate Winslett said afterward that (interestingly) it was she who had brought the book and the project to her husband, not vice versa and that it took some consideration for Sam Mendes to convince himself that he hadn't already told this story before, and by the final credits, I too was thinking just that, it felt like I'd watched a prequel to American Beauty, but without the pizazz and the rapture and the delight. So, the book, 10/10, the film, 8/10.