American Beauty - Movie Review Example

American beauty is a drama film, directed by Sam Mendes and was released in the year 1999. This film consist the factors of personal satisfaction, beauty, romance, sexuality and redemption etc. All these factors revolve around each character presented in the movie. The characters described in the movie are the distinction of one’s public and private selves. How each one them is managing itself to the public having completely different thoughts inside head. The four characters chosen to be discussed are: Lester Burnham, Carolyn Burnham, Jane Burnham and Angela Hayes. Lester, who is a 42 year old man and a writer in a magazine since 14 years, narrates the story of his life throughout the movie. He is a man with none self-confidence left behind. He hates his life and dislikes his job either. He thinks that he’ll die soon within a year or two. The first scene of the movie introduces the Lester’s character in which he says to himself that, “I might die in a year or two but I don’t know that yet, and in a way I am dead already”. The scene explains the present life of Lester he is struggling to live in. No charm and spark is left in his life. He also says that, “My wife and my daughter thinks I am a looser”. And he accepts this truth about him, but on the other hand he also tells himself that it’s never too late to back to the right track, he was once on. He has unhealthy relationship with his wife and daughter. He is also aware of the fact that his daughter hates him for what he is. He is being given the last chance to save his job by the office manager. He is over ruled by his wife in the house. Overall the character of Lester is shown as a total lost man, who is tired of dealing with his boring life and helpless to get rid of. Carolyn happens to be Lester’s wife. She is a very materialistic, sophisticated, confident, up to date, dominant and an unhappy person. She is very ambitious, hardworking and a devoted person towards her job. She does the job of selling houses to the people. As in the scene shown, when Carolyn cleans the house inch by inch and does everything at her best level to impress her clients. But yet she fails to make any selling and starts to scream and cry. Lester comments on the sophistication habit of Carolyn while she was doing gardening by saying that, “I just get exhausted by watching her”. Jane, the only child of Lester and Carolyn, is a typical teenage girl. She is such a child who lacks the attention & affection of her parents. She is a girl who is very insecure, aggressive and confused about herself. She thinks that she is not that good looking and attractive to get boys attention. She doesn’t have friendly bond with her parents. As the scene illustrates at the dining table, when Lester asks Jane about her school day by sharing how bad his day was at office, and expects to get her positive & friendly reaction. Jane leaves the table in anger by saying to her father that, “You barely speak to me in months, and then you expect me to turn into a friendly daughter within minutes”. Angela, best friend of Jane at school, who is a very bold, good looking, outgoing person and struggling to become a model one day. All the fellow girls at school take her as a prostitute, due to the sexual experiences stories she tell around at school to ever body. She is sharp in observing people’s minds, as the scene explains when Jane’s parents appraise the dancing performance of her & Angela. The way Lester looks, appraise & talks to Angela, she says to Jane that, “your father is sweet & nice, and also seems that your parents haven’t had sex in a long time”. These four characters contain two faces, the one they show to the public & the other which happens to be their real life. For example Lester & Carolyn pretends to be the happiest couple in front of others in public places, like in the scene where Carolyn takes Lester to her business party providing him the instructions of what to do & what to say, what not to do & what not to say. Says him not to ruin this party because it’s so important for her career, and Lester says her, “okay I will whatever you want me to be” & kisses Carolyn in front of her rival to pretend how happy and perfect couple they are. In real Lester & Carolyn hardly talks to each other in low voice and also happens to be a sexual frustrated couple. Similarly, when Jane gets filmed by her new neighbor & school mate Ricky, she pretend this act of Ricky’s annoying & irritable in public. She also said on Ricky’s face in front of Angela that, “I want you to stop filming me”. But in private self, she started to like him, becomes his girlfriend, gets sexually involved with him, and also allows him to film her private parts either. Angela, who pretends to be very bold & tells everyone the stories of her sleeping around with every second guy in detail, turns out to be a big lie about her in the movie end. The scene where Lester eventually gets a chance to fulfill his only desire of getting laid with Angela, & when Angela tells the truth the about her virginity explains the duplication of Angel’s character. All these four characters presented in the movie symbolize the middle class society of America. It shows how people are living their lives as a lie in front of public, by keeping their true self hidden. Lester felt guilty about his inner desire regarding Angela. He realized his mistakes and sat on the table smiling, with a family photograph, & suddenly gets shot on the back of his head by the gun and dies. The last scene of the movie of explains that how we get involved in wrong desires by neglecting the beautiful things & relations around us. The last lines of Lester narrate the meaningful experiences of his life, and he also says that, “despite his death he is happy, as theres so much beauty in the world”. (Mendes) Works Cited American Beauty. Dir. Sam Mendes. 1999. Read More