BE NOT CONFORMED TO THE WORLD Revolutionary Road Cast, Crew, Story, Theme, Review, Muse-En-Scene, Life Connections

Based on the celebrated novel by Richard Yates, director Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road" is the story of a young couple trying to find fulfillment in an age of conformity. Trapped in a world of encoded convention, they dream without faith, as lies and self- deceptions build to explosive consequences. MPAA Rating: R (for language and some sexual content/nudity) REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

KATE WINSLET (April Wheeler) April Wheeler is a young, idealistic woman sustained by dreams in a time when womens dreams rarely saw the light of day. Like many women in the late 1950s, April yearns to be something more. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO (Frank Wheeler) LEONARDO DiCAPRIO (Frank Wheeler) Moored in his times, Frank makes many of his biggest decisions on the basis of being a man, of proving his worth to his friends, neighbors, co-workers and, most especially to April. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

KATHY BATES (Helen Givings) KATHY BATES (Helen Givings) Mrs Givings, a neighbor, is the local busybody and realtor who sells the American dream, yet is hiding her own wrenching family crisis. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

SAM MENDES (Director/Producer) SAM MENDES (Director/Producer) He married Kate Winslet in 2003 in the Caribbean The couples first child is Joe Alfie Mendes Directed American Beauty, Road to Perdition and Jarhead REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

RICHARD YATES (Author) RICHARD YATES (Author) In 1961, at the relatively late age of 35, he published his first novel, Revolutionary Road. Winning extraordinary acclaim, the book was nominated that year for a National Book Award REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

It's the first time Kate Winslet plays a character named April. It's the second time Leonardo DiCaprio plays a character named Frank. It's the third time Kathy Bates plays a character named Helen. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

Frank and April have always seen themselves as special, different, ready and willing to live their lives based on higher ideals. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

So, as soon as they move into their new house on Revolutionary Road, they proudly declare their independence from the suburban inertia that surrounds them and determine never to be trapped by the social confines of their era. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

Yet for all their charm, beauty and irreverence, the Wheelers find themselves becoming exactly what they didnt expect: a good man with a routine job whose nerve has gone missing; a less-than- happy homemaker starving for fulfillment and passion; an American family with lost dreams, like any other. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

Driven to change their fates, April hatches an audacious plan to start all over again, to leave the comforts of Connecticut behind for the great unknown of Paris. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

But when the plan is put in motion, each spouse is pushed to extremes - one to escape whatever the cost, the other to save all that they have, no matter the compromises. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

ALONE IN THE CONFORMIST CROWD Director Sam Mendes: I wanted to emphasize a sense of Frank being very, very alone in the city… REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

HOME ALONE …and simultaneously of April being lonely in the house. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

You have that visual counterpoint throughout the film - Frank in the masses of people and April in the suburbs - which helps to evoke the central themes of the story. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

The rise and fall of the Wheelers as a couple was mirrored by Costume Designer Albert Wolsky in palette and style: For example, Franks suits get fancier and jauntier after they plan to go to Paris but then they go back down again. Its something I dont really want people to notice, but more a feeling in the back of your mind. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

80% Positive Consensus voice: "Revolutionary Road is a very good big screen adaptation of an outstanding American novel -- faithful, intelligent, admirably acted, superbly shot" --Todd McCarthy, Variety REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

I meant it more as an indictment… of a general lust for conformity all over this country… a kind of blind, desperate clinging to safety and security at any price... I meant to suggest that the revolutionary road of 1776 had come to something very much like a dead end in the 50s. -- Richard Yates (Ploughshares Interview 1992) REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

BEING A NON-CONFORMIST! As Yates said, The worst thing that you can do in this life is to live a lie. To live true to the essence of who you are is not easy. Be not conformed to this world the scriptures say. And Shakespeare reminds us above all: to thine own self be true. Easy to say. Hard to do. Even Yates struggled with this ideal. Like his characters, he was plagued with alcoholism, depression and difficult relationships. He died broke of emphysema at the age of 66. What this film represents is that very struggle we all have. And lets be real, it is a struggle. Still, we do need to become all that we are intended to be. Heres to you and your journey. May this film encourage you. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Its about coming to terms with yourself, being honest with yourself, facing up to your own limitations and trying to carve out a happy niche in life despite your limitations. -- Blake Bailey (Yates biographer) REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce

You know, we are becoming like everyone else so lets do something to change our disappointed lives. --April Wheeler REVOLUTIONARY ROAD REVOLUTIONARY ROAD © 2008 Paramount Vantage. Review © David Bruce