StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Illusion of Beauty - Movie Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
American Beauty Introduction American Beauty is a drama film which has been released in 1999. This film is written by Alan Ball, and it has been directed by Sam Mendes. The major character of this film has been performed by Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.6% of users find it useful
Illusion of Beauty
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Illusion of Beauty"

Download file to see previous pages

This drama film is the representation of all those problems which are significantly associated with the American Dream, especially for the middle economic class. It is a remarkable portrayal of tensions in the life of middle class men in order to thrive for better living. There is another sufficient illumination which is efficiently presented by Medes through his direction. This issue is related to the difference is between the conventional conception of beauty in concordance with the American Dream and the real concept of beauty which leads an individual towards happiness rather than mere pleasure.

This paper is focused on describing the myth of beauty in the conventional concept which can lead to the illusion of happiness; however, it is a disturbing shift from happiness to misery. This will be described by the analysis of the last scene of Lester in this film in terms of cinematography and mise-en-scene. Description The scene begins in the kitchen where Angela and Lester are in a conversation right after Angela eats something. After some general dialogues about food and unusual incident occurred between them, Lester asks Angela about his daughter Jane.

He asks that how is she? Is she happy or miserable? On which Angela replies that Jane is satisfied, and she is in love with Ricky. Lester acts in a calm manner and this answer of Angela brings a smile on his face. This is followed by Angela’s question as she asks Lester about how is he? Lester gently tells Angela that he has not being asked any of such questions regarding his self for a long time. He further tells Angela after a significant pause that he is high. Angela excuses for going to the bathroom and leaves (Spacey, Bening and Birch 01:48:58-01:51:47).

The scene continues with Lester in the frame, and he smiles again and repeats that he is high. After repeating his dialogue, he smiles and looks to the left side. Lester moves towards left as the shot cuts and a larger frame covers Lester’s motion towards the photo. Lester picks that photo frame in his hands and starts to look at it while walking towards the dining table, and he sits on a chair (Spacey, Bening and Birch 01:48:58-01:51:47). Lester keeps on staring at the photo ahead of which a flower vase is placed with red roses in it.

The short cuts and shifts towards the photo in which Lester and Carolyn (Lester’s wife) and preadolescent Jane are present. In the photo, the whole family seems to be happy. The shot shifts in 180 degree camera angle, framing Lester’s face and he delivers his dialogues. He says, “Man o man” and the shot shifts towards the left shoulder framing his face in a wide angle from the left shoulder (Spacey, Bening and Birch 01:48:58-01:51:47). He repeats his dialogue and a nozzle of a gun comes into the frame from the right side.

The scene follows as the camera pans towards the left side covering the photo and the vase with the red roses in motion. The camera stops on the white wall opposite to Lester's direction, and the sound of a gunshot takes place with Lester’s blood sprayed on the wall. The scene ends on the wall on which Lester’s blood drops down in a downwards flow (Spacey, Bening and Birch 01:48:58-01:51:47). Cinematography This scene of the American drama film American Beauty, which has been described in the previous heading, is one of the most significant scenes of the film. In

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Illusion of Beauty Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1487825-illusion-of-beauty
(Illusion of Beauty Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1487825-illusion-of-beauty.
“Illusion of Beauty Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/visual-arts-film-studies/1487825-illusion-of-beauty.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Illusion of Beauty

Fashion Magazines with Portraying Extremely Thin Women to Support Products

The myth about beauty will be broken by revealing the real benefits media enjoy by impacting the values of women.... Earlier, the idea of female beauty was closely linked to her realistically voluptuous body.... Unfortunately, with passage of time, these underweight models became the representatives of female beauty, which is still the case...
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Beauty and the Beast

Her work on “When we dead awaken: writing as a revision” is basically celebrated for its wide contribution toward modern language association… The artists work was faced with vast challenges emanating from traditional assumptions of literal scholarship (Rich 2).... This was not all, since it prompted the inclusion of women studies and feminist criticism in the wider academia field (Rich 2). It is important to In addition to women equality, Rich also broadened her writing to promote equality for gays, those disenfranchised by race and class (Rich 5)....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

A Womans Beauty by Susan Sontag

“A Woman's beauty: Put Down or Power Source?... ?? by Susan Sontag is a work The author investigates the present state of the issue and reveals that even the advantages, which women have in comparison to men, for example, their beauty an sex appeal, do not bring any visible benefits to the representatives of fair sex.... “For close to two centuries it has become a convention to attribute beauty to only one of the two sexes: the sex which however fair is always second....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Visual Arts and Film Studies

Due to the illusion of money, Torvald considers his wife extravagant but she is the one who ends up getting a loan to fly him abroad for medical treatment.... However, his affection is encouraged by the beauty.... Actually, he is so much obsessed with the beauty of the woman that he fails to think clearly about the woman he wanted to marry.... The illusion that he develops for the women from the East deprives him....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Reality and Illusion in Light of Pride and Vanity

Marlowe subliminally tells us what is real: the soul, the thing that exists beyond knowledge, power, fame, and beauty- that which is truly immortal.... "Reality and illusion in Light of Pride and Vanity" paper examines Doctor Faustus, Mephisto, and The Picture of Dorian Gray that forces us to question what is reality and illusion lest we fall into the same trap of vanity and pride such as the main characters of these stories.... hellip; Alexander Gillies tells us that there is 'the duality of human nature'; in us exists both reality and illusion thus the distinction between reality and illusion lies and can also come from us....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Influence of Advertising Magazines on Young Women Self Esteem

The myth about beauty will be broken by revealing the real benefits media enjoy by impacting the values of women.... The myth about beauty will be broken by revealing the real benefits media enjoy by impacting the values of women.... Earlier, the idea of female beauty was closely linked to her realistically voluptuous body.... Unfortunately, with the passage of time, these underweight models became the representatives of female beauty....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

American Beauty

This paper “American Beauty” is focused on describing the myth of beauty in the conventional concept which can lead to the illusion of happiness; however, it is a disturbing shift from happiness to misery.... This issue is related to the difference is between the conventional conception of beauty in concordance with the American Dream and the real concept of beauty which leads an individual towards happiness rather than mere pleasure....
5 Pages (1250 words) Movie Review

Is Sexiness an Aesthetic Property

" discusses the aesthetic property of the term sexiness, why it is more preferred to as women, the whole culture of impressing men, the contemporary term of beauty, describing it in a form of human nature, the history of beauty.... but at any age, any woman always wishes to be described as sexy, and hence much money is normally spent in pursuit of beauty.... As Mia wrote, and I will review her speech later, there is beauty in ugliness....
15 Pages (3750 words) Report
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us