A Look Inside: Revolutionary Road
This month with it being Women’s History Month I decided to focus a couple of blog posts on a subject rarely addressed in films that focuses on the female character. To start we will look at Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road (2008) which covers a wide variety of issues from conforming to the postwar suburban life to abortion. Abortion is a subject that is rarely a focal point in many films in the recent past but as the world changes I’ve started to see the subject being covered more and more. My goal is to analyze 2 films that address the topic of abortion and then speak to the broader film industry and how the topic is showcased within the films. Revolutionary Road is based on the novel with the same name, in which the author Richard Yates hauntingly displayed the life of postwar suburban life and the effects it had on men, women and marriage. The film focuses on the rise and fall of the marriage between Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) Wheeler and the struggles they are faced with in the mid-1950s.
Revolutionary Road starts off with the meeting of April and Frank in the late 1940s where the two connect at a party and marry soon after. It then jumps to the mid-1950s after they have been married for seven years, have started a family and live in a picturesque house on top of the hill on Revolutionary Road. We then jump to them at a play in which April has just performed and it seems as if it was a bust and no one liked it. April is upset about the play and on the car ride home the audience learns that their marriage is far from perfect. The audience can immediately see the distance between them in the following scenes where Frank proceeds to cheat on April with a secretary at work; April is also shown picking up a pillow and sheets off the couch indicating one of them has been sleeping on it. In the mists of doing her household chores April opens up a box filled with old photos and has a sudden realization. Later that night when Frank comes home from “work” April surprises him with a cake for his birthday. Her attitude has completely changed and she goes on to tell Frank about this great plan to pick up and move to Paris where she will support the family until Frank finds out what he wants to do with his life. This dream gives April a small sense of freedom and hope and while he was hesitant at first Frank agrees and the two plan on moving to Paris in the fall and their marriage seems to be revived.
However, the plan soon unravels when April becomes pregnant (intentionally or not) and Frank gets an extremely good job offer at work. Along with the plan their marriage begins to enter a demise once again, more specifically when Frank finds the tool April was going to use to give herself an at-home abortion. The fight the two have is catastrophic and Frank begins to belittle April as a mother and as a human being. And at a dinner with friends there is an explosion of emotions and the reality of their lives becomes obvious with both April and Frank realizing that it will never work between them. The next morning April acts if nothing has happened and makes him breakfast and the two sit down for a nice meal without the children. It seems as if April has accepted her life as she wishes Frank a good day a work. He leaves and she begins breaking down and the audience realizes it was all an act. She goes into the bathroom with a pan of hot water and the tool and closes the door. The next scene she is seen walking down the stairs, a little woozy as she stands in front of her picturesque window and notices the blood on the carpet. In the hospital Frank finds out that she died due to a great amount of blood lost.
Although the film’s main focus is not the aspect of abortion it does, however, greatly display how the effects of wanting a life outside the suburban lifestyle can influence the important decision of abortion. April has what most people would call a “pipe-dream” which is an unrealistic and unobtainable idea. This unrealistic idea and the fact that she does not truly want to be with her husband are the reasons she feels are important in her decision to get an abortion. She wishes to have something outside the suburban lifestyle and it seems as if the baby would get in the way of that dream. Even though these reasons are not justifiable by societal standards they are clear enough reasons for April, who is actually past the twelve-week mark for the at-home abortion to be considered safe. In my eyes April knows what she is doing and understands the outcome of her decision but she is so unhappy in the life she is living that her decision outweighs the consequences she will face.
Throughout the film April is extremely frustrated by suburban ennui and the oppressive roles of mother and housewife; which leaves her anxious and depressed. She does not see a purpose in her passive, restrictive life of suburban conformity. Although there are films that look at the concept of oppression and conformity that are more intense and figurative than Revolutionary Road it stills show the results of years of oppression within patriarchy. Unfortunately, April expresses years of oppression in a horrible act in which she takes the act out on herself rather than a random male figure (as seen in other films). But ultimately she not only punishes herself but her husband and children as well. Which leads us to another important concept to discuss about the film which is how the woman is punished. In this case, April dies at the end of the film due to effects of an at-home abortion. The way I see it she is being punished not only for taking the matter into her own hands rather carelessly and giving herself the abortion but she is being punished for not conforming to society. She is unhappy with the lifestyle she is living and wishes to aspire to more outside the United States. These aspirations such as having Frank stay at home while she works are not acceptable in society thus she must be punished for having such desires. Also, not only is she being punished but her family is as well. Frank and their two children must go on living the suburban lifestyle without a mother and without a wife.
It is quite obvious that Revolutionary Road is seen as social drama and it creates a “hall of mirrors.” This is where the spectator can see the social world reflected and refracted. The film provokes feelings into the spectator and makes them reflect on the world inside and outside the film. In a way the form and content of world outside the film successfully interrogates conventions and expectations about the role of women in society because it makes the viewer see the bigger theme of the film. But the story itself definitely reinforces those conventions and expectations at the end of the film. I would hope that after viewing the film the spectator would think about the film in a social context that exists outside the screen. I feel that there are a number of films that represent women as being presented sympathetically driven by goals other than marriage and motherhood. Although I do not think Revolutionary Road is one of those films because it ultimately punishes the women for have goals other than being a wife and mother. So in the sense that the female is punished for attempting to step outside typical roles I feel that it reinforces the traditional female stereotypes, not only in April but in the character of Milly Campbell (Kathryn Hahn) as well. She is seen as the perfect housewife and mother and she is outraged when April and Frank inform them of their plan to move to Paris and have April work instead of Frank.
In the end, Revolutionary Road is a film that speaks volumes to the issues that women faced back in the 1950s and even into the 1960s. While the world has progressed in a number of ways rather quickly, it is still obvious it hasn’t progressed as quickly in a number of other ways. I believe that films like this help spark conversations around important social topics whether it is abortion or female expectations which is just one of the many things film can offer its viewers.
“No one forgets the truth. They just get better at lying.”
Kate Winslet, as April Wheeler
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