A Rocky Road

Kate and Leo are no strangers to sinking ships. They launched their careers with Titanic, and now they’ve reunited again to bring their unique brilliance to a different kind of failing ship. In Revolutionary Road, Winslet and DiCaprio reunite as April and Frank Wheeler, a married couple in suburban Connecticut in the 1950s whose relationship is spiraling out of control.

Director Sam Mendes (and Winslet’s husband) is no stranger to suburban dysfunction. His American Beauty tore down the curtains on pretty suburbia and exposed all of its hidden ugliness. But it also offered a bit of hope – even if it only came through death. Revolutionary Road offers no such hope; its entire intention is to show the hopeless emptiness of the Wheeler’s existence.

It’s not suburbia that’s to blame though. April and Frank Wheeler hopelessness is all their own faults. The hope of a new life in Paris momentarily renews their love and lust for each other, but it’s a temporary high. And as their escape plan slowly and painfully unravels, they unravel as well. But in the end suburbia is just an excuse. The miserable duet would be unhappy wherever they were – even in their utopian Paris – because they’re a couple who expect very different things out of their lives. But either out of fear or circumstance, they’re incapable of changing until it’s too late.

Winslet and DiCaprio are an inspiration in this heavily psychological drama that keeps you forever guessing at the characters’ true feelings. Every twitch of Winslet’s perfect mouth emits an emotion, and for the first time in a long time DiCaprio shows startling vulnerability. Winslet’s April is harsh and desperate, but still manages to ooze sex and sensitivity. She’s a pretty despicable, self-centered person – determined to unman her husband with her lethal, manipulative tongue – but her bravery is almost admirable. Likewise, DiCaprio’s fear of change and of his wife’s fearlessness is just as engrossing. Frank Wheeler talks a big game. He painted himself as so interesting that April Wheeler married him. Too bad for her, it was all just a façade. Frank is a total bore. Frank spoke of leaving the suburbs, imagined a fantastical life in France where he could find himself, but Frank was never going anywhere. You could almost feel sorry for him, if he wasn’t so pathetic. As people the Wheelers are hardly likeable – though everyone in their little corner of the world seems to feel differently – but as characters, they’re fascinating. Their motivations and desires always manage to stay hidden just below the surface, threatening always to bubble over, but never actually coming to surface. The story is all in what Frank and April don’t say.

The supporting cast lends admirably to the psychological tension. Kathy Bates, David Harbour, and Kathryn Hahn breathe humanity into the comfortable, but subtly complicated lives of the Wheeler’s suburbanite neighbors. Kathryn Hahn’s desperate housewife is particularly noteworthy, but it’s Michael Shannon, as Bates’ psychologically-troubled son, who lends the most weight to the drama. In the Shakespearean vein, Shannon’s committed psych ward patient is the wise fool, speaking the truth about Frank and April when no one else will. And what brutally honest truth it is.

To say the least, Revolutionary Road is a devastating story about two people driving down diverging paths and pulling each other apart in the process. It’s certainly not pretty, but the riveting performances make it impossible to tear your eyes away from the demoralizing wreak of the Wheeler’s marriage as it crashes and burns on screen. But it’ll have you talking the whole way home.