'Revolutionary Road' downbeat, but compelling

Director: Sam Mendes

Cast: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates

People living lives of quiet desperation … and such a powerful performance from Winslet that surely an Oscar, rather than merely another lost cause, will come her way.

The screen version of Richard Yates’s story of the American Dream – circa 1950s – turning slowly into a nightmare of disappointment and compromise may sound utterly depressing but on screen, thanks to the acting of Winslet and DiCaprio, it becomes compelling viewing.

They play the average suburban couple, he the increasingly crushed worker in a business machines organisation, she the housewife and mother with a feeling that life should be offering so much more … a dream chased with a desire to go live in Europe.

But when he is offered promotion the tragic strands of their lives begin to be drawn together.

It is, in all respects, a quite stunning depiction of anxt, almost of Chekhovian proportions, and it makes for an outstanding film.

Star Rating: 5/5