American Beauty

American Beauty (1999)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Suburban unrest has long been a theme that art forms have explored over the last half-century. Few explore this theme as intensely as the film American Beauty. Lester (Kevin Spacey) is a middle-aged, listless person who works a stagnant, unrewarding job at an advertising agency. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), is a real estate agent whose superficially cheerful demeanor masks a competitive drive towards material success that destroys any meaningful relationships she may have with others. "My company sells an image. It's part of my job to live that image," she proclaims at one point.

The third member of this family is Jane (Thora Birch), an awkward high schooler who is in an angst-ridden phase that renders her as socially inept as her parents. One night, Lester is dragged to a cheer-leading performance that his daughter participates in. Little does he know how his life will change in an instant; in the middle of the performance he finds himself sexually attracted to Jane's superficial, arrogant friend Angela (Mena Suvari). Considering how Angela herself is a product of an upper-class suburban upbringing, a quality that Lester has grown to despise, it is ironic that he experiences, simultaneously, a sexual and an intellectual reawakening that compels him to rebel against the suffocating constraints placed on him by the suburban standardizations that are embodied by Carolyn.


The film becomes a fascinating, if rather depressing, exploration of a group of "freaks" who try to retain some sort of distinctiveness and dignity in an environment that demands conformity. One aspect of the film that I love is Conrad L. Hall's brilliant cinematography. He paints the suburban world as a place that is at once aesthetically pleasing - the colors seem to pop off the screen - and yet, through the use of wonderful compositions and a number of wide-angle shots, ultimately empty and meaningless.

Underneath this superficial glitz is an undercurrent of restlessness, of untapped passion that has the capacity to be both liberating and dangerous. Lester exhibits both of these aspects: He quits his job, buys his dream car, and lays around the house working out and smoking pot - but he also becomes a selfish jerk. At a dinner that brims with tension, Carolyn remarks "Well, I see you're smoking pot now. I think using psychotropic drugs is a very positive example to set for our daughter." To which Lester fires back, "You're one to talk you bloodless, money-grubbing freak."

The film introduces a creepy teen who has just moved into the neighborhood named Ricky (Wes Bentley). His father (Chris Cooper) is a homophobic colonel who holds an iron fist - he cites the need for "structure" and "discipline" - over the household. But if Ricky has one thing going for him, it is his willingness to be brutally honesty, a quality that Jane, who has grown sick of Carolyn's superficiality and her crazy parents, desperately seeks. As they begin to go out, Ricky becomes Lester's go-to man for pot; their interactions drive Ricky's troubled father into believing that they are actually having sex.

Lester tells us that he will die in a voice-over during the film's opening sequence. All of these various plot threads converge into an ending - and a death scene - that is predictable and ultimately feels like a bit of a cop-out. In spite of the weak ending and a few moments that are too preachy for their own good, American Beauty is a very good film that makes us think about how we present ourselves and interact with others. Most of us may be doomed to a future that consists of facile relationships, but there is the hope, at least in the filmmakers' minds, that we are, at our cores, distinctive individuals in search of meaning and sincerity.

Rating: 9

First Viewed: 5/6/08
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