American Beauty

This new 5 times Oscar winner movie is an enjoyable film about romance, love, freedom, sexuality, the search for happiness etc. I absolutely enjoyed every second of it, in particular the combination of drama and comedy. Actors such as Kevin Spacey, Anette Bening, Peter Gallagher and Mena Suvari and the director Sam Mendes takes us through a 122 minutes long film full of unexpected surprises.

The film uses a "retrospective-technique" which means that at the start of the film the two main characters, Lester and Carolyn, seem very happy. They seem to be a perfect couple, in a perfect house, in a perfect neighbourhood. They have built up fake appearance. But later on the film reveals more about their privacy and we discover that their relationship isn't perfect.

Lester, the father in the house, is falling deeper into a depression. He wakes up every morning, jerks off in the shower, gets dressed, rushes to the car, gets yelled at by Caroline (his wife), goes to the same boring job, gets home and eats dinner while listening to "elevator" music, watches some TV and goes to bed without having sex. The mother in the house works as a real estate worker and she always cuts her roses. Well, as you see, they don't have much in common, and that causes problems.

They never talk to each other or to their child. They are all living in their own world. But suddenly the breaking point in the story occurs. When Jane, their daughter, brings home her friend called Angela, Lester see the light. He gets so obsessed by this woman that he starts working out. He finally realises what a crappy life he's living and after becoming more of a man from the workout he decides to make some changes. He answers his wife when she yells at him, he quits his job, blackmails his boss, flirts with the young lady, jerks off in bed and he starts to work in a fast-food restaurant.

His wife, who isn't all too fond of these changes, starts seeing another man. Lester finds out about this, but he doesn't really care. Lester is finally an independent man, but the film doesn't end here. It has what you can call a very special ending, but I'm not going to tell you about this right now.

The main characters in the film are very varied. You got Lester, the shy man, which goes through a makeover and becomes the family's head of honour. Then there is Carolyn, the stressed mum, and last but not least their daughter Jane. In the start we all think that she is just an ordinary girl who follows the crowd, but in the end of the story we find out that she is the special one. There are also some bi-characters: The family next door, the real estate worker,