Manthast
Absolutely amazing
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
saraccan
Really good acting by both actors. I liked the small twists and turns thay they had to make you guess how the story is gonna unfold. I think how much one can enjoy this movie depends on how much they can relate to their situation. It's about young married American couple with two kids who all of a sudden decide to move to Paris for a chance of a fresh start.
dansview
Unless we are terminally ill, prisoners of war or unemployed in the Third World, we usually have at least two ways to look at our situation in life. The couple in this film, who were apparently created by a book author, not a screenwriter or director, chose the "glass half empty" way.
They had a beautiful home, healthy children, friends, and youth, but they were miserable because they thought life was supposed to be more romantic.
I don't think their dream of that way of life is illegitimate or stupid. There are people who live in bohemian cities, toil in the arts and don't have children, and that may be a satisfying way to go. I believe that these people could have made other choices besides marriage, kids, and suburban life. But that's what they chose.
Having said that we don't see any depiction of activities in the suburbs beyond the basics. Yet suburban people often do volunteer work, have multiple hobbies, go to church, and get into the city for the arts when they can. All of those things alleviate whatever inherent boredom comes with the territory.
All these people do is dwell on their misery.
These dark commentaries on suburban life often focus on Godless sorts. People who believe that their own daily existence is the center of the universe often get disappointed when they realize that it's not. But they have nothing to fill the void.
It's true what the other reviewers said that we didn't get much in the way of initial character development, but we did get a few basics and we heard more later. I thought the acting was good, but the scenes with the disturbed son of their realtor were too frequent and too heavy handed. They should have had one good scene of dialogue with him and left it at that. He was excruciating to watch.
Don't be so sure that the film makers or author are mocking the 50s or suburbia. Through their characters they explain the pointlessness of thinking that some other romantic life is out there. For most of us this is all there is and that's o.k. The 50s or any time are what we make of them. None of the immoral decisions that people make in this film are considered cool. We see the guilt and anguish in those who commit them.
There's actually some great dialog including statements about immaturity, the annoying nature of over-talking and over-analyzing, and the fact that the grass is not always greener somewhere else.
Seven Stars. It was way too depressing to enjoy and lacked any balance in the form of say at least one couple that was genuinely happy and functional.
lovaszi-peter
An outstanding drama demonstrating an awfully common problem of our society, which often isn't being recognised by the suffering party.
The drama has 3 main characters - April (Kate Winslet) the housewife, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), the main character and will talk about the third one later.If you experience anything what you've seen in the movie, you are psychologically abused and should see someone specialised immediately.
Frank personalises the perfect abusive husband who knows all the trick how he can terrorise April without ever hurting her physically. But she doesn't give up, tries to change their life entirely, Frank gives the hope, agrees with April, but when he has to do action, he finds excuses every time. And again and again so he can let April down.
Well, this is not the first one of its subject. The third main character is John (Michael Shannon), who says out loudly the truth and is intelligent enough to analyse the main characters psychologically - ironically he is considered psychopath for doing it so in this 1950's society.Overall it is a good movie representing important values, but not an easy watch. You might get confused about April's personality and behaviour, which demonstrates how much she suffers due to the abuse she has to take.
mosuna51
Winslet & DiCaprio do a fine job expressing the hopeless place that human beings can go when the big Questions of life are not dealt with outside of ones self. And truly, they display this despair, frustration, depression, confusion and hopelessness if any 2 people could in their performances. My husband & I watched this together, having been in unhealthy relationships in our younger lives (now in a wonderful marriage in our late 60's 70's). We both were saddened as we watched the well done development of their characters...the momentary hope...then despair & division. We both looked at each other, knowing that it wasn't so much about traditional marriage in the 50's "burbs" being the issue, as it was that they lacked tools in their tool chest. The tragedy was their inability to communicate effectively, love one another in a healthy way, and in our opinion...being happily married so many yrs...to have a spiritual foundation that helps people be close & forgiving. In this respect we felt sad watching because as some have shared-it is a dark & tragic film. Yet, we must say that they did a great job portraying the kind of road couples "can" go down in any scenario, not just traditional marriages. The supporting actors as well as the historical settings are very well done. There is a strong political statement in the film that watchers will either agree with or not...& this bugged us both, but - so be it - this is Hollywood. Either way, fine performances.
