“…look closer”
You think your friend’s family is perfect. They spend quality time together, always eat dinner together, say “I love you” over and over again, but deep in their roots, nothing is perfect. In American Beauty, your typical suburban family is observed closely at the root and revealed for what they really are.
In the film, the life of Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey, is showed. He deals with his job nonchalantly and his real-estate wife seems to be a little obsessive about making her life the perfect one on the market. They have one daughter, Jane, who is your typical teenager filled with angst. She develops a crush on her stalking marijuana dealer neighbor. The whole film basically covers Lester’s midlife crisis after falling in love with Jane’s friend, Angela.
The title actually refers to a flower that appears beautiful but rots underneath at the root. It’s a metaphor to “look closer” at this family, because although they seem beautiful on the outside, they rot underneath that beauty layer. It’s a satire on the suburban American family and brings alive the problems every American family faces. It spans not just at the dinner table but to work life, friends, even infidelity. However, it takes the satire to the next level, and displays Lester’s imprisonment, even his and Ricky’s – Jane’s love interest – philosophical assumptions about life. Nevertheless, the film’s theme has been argued by critics and is considered to defy any categories.
This film is beautiful, in all aspects of the word. It’s available on DVD and you can go buy it now with a rating of 5 out of 5.
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