Revolutionary Road.
It's a good film you know.
I really don't want to say too much more than that.
I have to though.
The problem with "Revolutionary Road" is that it presents, all too accurately, all too honestly, all too gloriously and all too terrifyingly the realities of my own experience of the Holy state of matrimony...and a right state it became too.
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation"
That's true isn't it? I don't know if it's true of women...I don't even know if it's true of all men but I know that it has been true of my own life for large parts of it.
That's the heart of "Revolutionary Road"...the quiet desperation that passes for the "life" of Frank and April (played with a genuinely awe inspiring realism by Di Caprio and Winslet). As the reality of their desperate life dawns on them...hell breaks loose and runs amok.
Lots of marriages become performances. There is a public "front" that the protagonists play to perfection and then there is the reality of their life together...the two are never more than a hairs breadth apart.
Infidelity.
Love.
Betrayal.
Lies.
Honesty.
Brutality.
Joy.
Laughter.
Love.
Passion.
Lust.
Dishonor.
Violence.
Emotion.
Hurt.
All of these are right there at the heart of "Revolutionary Road" and, oh how sad, they were there at the heart of my own relationship. I could see and hear myself in almost every line from both characters. At times I could see myself as Frank...boorish and brash. At times I could see myself as April...filled with a real, awfully real, desire to break free from the husk of a life I had created.
It's a film I can't "review" without reviewing my own performance as a husband, as a partner, as a "married". That won't help you decide if you want to watch it. It might help me though.
I did see this film and I have to admit I saw some familiar things too. I think some of that exists in every marriage. I found it disturbing and sad and at the same time very well done. It was very thought provoking and emotional for sure! Someone who has "been there" definitely had a hand in its production!
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