SPOILER ALERT! The plot of
the movie will be discussed.
The tag line for this 1999
Oscar-winning film was “Look closer.” We can see it written on the work cubicle
of the main character, Lester Burnham. The movie invites the audience to delve
under the appearances of American suburban life to see what reality lies
beneath the lives of its characters.
The
title of the motion picture suggests one of its themes. It is the name of a
type of rose. It is lovely on the surface, but its roots have a tendency to
decay. Thus, the plant serves as a symbol that there may be too much emphasis
on the surface appeal of upper middle class existence in the United States, where
its people restrict themselves to an incomplete perspective. This lack of
vision can lead to a zombie-like state, with no genuine life coursing through
it. Because the requirement to achieve superficial acceptability is rigidly
enforced, the effect on those who don’t conform can be devastating. Lester,
(Kevin Spacey, in an Oscar-winning performance), narrating from beyond the grave,
(similar to William Holden’s character in Sunset
Boulevard, which director Sam Mendes said was an influential here), says
that he will be dead within the year. But, he adds, like a creature from The Walking Dead, he’s “already dead.”
Indeed,
Lester’s daily “high point” is masturbating in the shower after awakening,
fantasizing being better than the life he is living, because at least it employs
the use of imagination. He works in advertising, where, as in Mad Men, the point of the job is to make
a product appear attractive, whether or not, under scrutiny, it lives up to its
presented image. Mendes (who won the Oscar for his movie directorial debut) said
he used vertical lines of data appearing in the computer screen Lester looks at
in order to suggest the bars of a prison. Reflections are important in this
movie, and, thus, Lester sees himself in a metaphorical jail, locked into a
passionless routine. But, he is failing at maintaining this façade, and is
about to lose his job. The agency hired a layoff hit man, Brad (Barry Del
Sherman), who offers up a pretense of reputable fairness by asking workers to
write up statements of their value to the company. But, if we “look closer,” this
assignment actually is a way of pushing the blame of being fired onto the
employee, supposedly being let go because of his inability to show his worth,
when in fact, his fate is already sealed. (Lester sarcastically satirizes the insincerity
of the advertising business when Brad asks him if he has a minute, and Lester,
with exaggerated smile and enthusiasm, says, “For you Brad, I’ve got five!”).
Alan
Ball, who received the Oscar for this screenplay, said he wanted the story to
emphasize that there is more life existing beneath our preconceived notions,
that we need to go beyond what we see on a first look at things. So, the film
presents a variety of perspectives from the characters’ points of view. The
first scene of the film, actually a flash-forward, is of Wes Bentley’s Ricky
Fitts (who pretends to “fit” into the role his father wants him to play)
shooting a video of Lester’s teenage daughter, Jane (possibly a reference to
her initial feeling about herself being a “plain Jane”). So, we, the audience,
are watching the director with his cinematographer, manipulating our
perspective of what we see, as we watch a character also focusing on what he
wants to be in his video. Mendes is thus commenting on the “look closer” theme,
and suggesting that this search for depth is what the nature of film can be
about. In this scene, Jane says her dad is so lame for being obsessed with her
female friend, that someone should “put him out of his misery.” Ricky asks her
if she wants him to kill Lester, and Jane says, “Yeah. Would you?” Along with
Lester’s comment about being dead within the year, this opening adds an element
of mystery, which, by its very definition, invites further investigating. It
suggests a possible suspect in Lester’s future death, but, it is an incomplete
scene, a red herring, again stressing how initial appearances can be deceiving
without more inquiry.
Lester’s
beginning description of himself is the one he derives from his wife and
daughter, who feel he is a loser, someone who can’t even wave his briefcase
around without it spilling its contents all over his driveway. He confesses
that he knows he lost something along the way to adulthood, and he turned into
someone who was “sedated,” akin to his expressed feelings of being dead-like.
But the imminent loss of his job seems to wake him up, and he starts to “look
closer” at his world and those who inhabit it. His wife, Carolyn (Annette
Bening), has become “joyless,” whereas, she once was a rule-breaker, going up
on the roof and flashing helicopters in her younger days. She has sold her soul
to the god of capitalistic success. She says, “My company sells an image. It's part
of my job to live that image.” That image is one of material
achievement, which is measured by the accumulation of things, and adhering to a
code of what constitutes attractive and fashionable acceptable appearances. As
Lester points out when we first see Carolyn, her gloves match her clogs, so she
is properly packaged, even while getting dirty doing gardening. She is a
realtor, and repeats an economic, not spiritual, mantra, “I will sell this
house today,” before conducting an open house. (She complains that the
neighbors, who used to live nearby, in the house bought by Ricky’s parents, did
not list with her. They are significantly called “the Lomans” – a Death of a Salesman reference suggesting
commercial tragedy). When she fails to close on the sale, she cries,
demonstrating the genuine emotion of a fully realized person. But, the
businesswoman in her can’t allow that feeling, so she tries to smack herself
out of the tearful display, calling herself weak. She listens to recordings in
her car on how to be successful. She at first envies the real estate “king,”
Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher). But, as her marriage to Lester is failing, she
does what businesses in America do. When you want to cut out competition, you
merge. She literally gets in bed with him. Buddy’s nickname of “The King” shows
how in America, royalty does not derive from noble lineage, but restrictively from
the bottom line.
Carolyn
cannot tolerate suburban failure in her husband or her daughter, because that
would tarnish that “image” of leading a successful life. Physical appearance
is, therefore, to her, a sign of “making it.” The pressure to have that fashion
model look has taken its toll on her daughter, Jane, who we see looking at an
ad for breast augmentation. Carolyn’s disappointment concerning her daughter is
obvious in their morning exchange before dropping Jane off at school. Carolyn
says, “Are you trying to look unattractive?” Jane’s only weapon is sarcasm, as
she responds, “Yes.” Carolyn’s condemning remark, “Well congratulations. You’ve
succeeded admirably,” communicates to her daughter that Jane is only good at
failure. Jane takes refuge from such harsh criticism in the teenager’s
time-honored expression of how lame and embarrassing parents are. Lester, in
his re-examining of reality, says that his daughter is a typical teenager,
“Angry. Insecure. Confused. I wish I could tell her that’s all going to pass,
but I don’t want to lie to her.” That Jane finds herself caught in the middle
of her parents’ crumbling marriage is shown at dinner, where the growing
distance between Lester and Carolyn is pictured by how they sit at the ends of
a large table, and Jane eats between them. Lester, feeling sorry about how he
and his daughter are no longer “pals,” awkwardly tries to reconnect with Jane
by asking how her day at school went. She says it was “okay.” He says, “Just
okay?” wanting more, but sounding like a phony cheerleader. Her bitter response
is, “No, Dad, it was spectacular,” and criticizes him because he can’t all of a
sudden act like he takes an interest in her after not even talking to her,
probably due to his suburban somnambulistic state.
Lester
starts his journey with alienation, followed by what on the surface is
self-indulgence. He can’t stand being at a phony realtor get-together with
Carolyn, which he emphasizes with an overly passionate public kiss with his
wife, which is in stark contrast to the coldness in their marriage. She tells
him “don’t be weird,” which is the major crime one can commit in a society
driven by conformity to a code of appropriate behavior. He goes outside and
with Ricky, who is working at the event. Ricky is a rebel in disguise. He
pretends to take on legitimate catering jobs as a cover while he deals
marijuana. He can fool his father, because as he tells Lester, “Never
underestimate the power of denial,” indicating that people want to believe that
the comfort of their static lives is secure. So, he uses the “normal” world to
mask his actual freedom from that normality. In this story, he indulges in
rule-breaking through the use of a mind-altering substance, which,
symbolically, can mean promulgating consciousness-raising. To emphasize the
false exterior of the life he pretends to lead, he keeps his weed in a fake
drawer, showing how his true life lies hidden beneath a layer of
respectability. Lester and he smoke weed together, and Lester becomes a client.
But, it is more than that. He tells Ricky that when he was the young man’s age,
he worked in a burger joint all summer to buy a music tape deck. He says that
it was “great. All I did was party and get laid. I had my whole life ahead of
me.” So, Lester seeks a rebirth, by acting like a child again, where all of
life’s possibilities are in the future. Thus, it is fitting that his mentor in
this process should be a youth in the form of Ricky. The young man becomes his
“hero” when he just quits the job on the spot after the hall owner complains
about Ricky taking a break. Lester then quits his job, and gets a year’s salary
with benefits after threatening to expose the boss’ use of corporate funds on
prostitutes, and saying he will blame Brad for sexually harassing him. Just as
he did when he was Ricky’s age, he gets a job in a fast-food burger restaurant,
saying he wants a job with as little responsibility as possible, which is what
a young boy enjoys. He smokes dope in his car while singing “American woman, stay
away from me,” obviously referring to Carolyn, and what she, and his country,
have become. He sits around the house with his bare feet up, playing with a
remote-controlled toy truck. He tells an outraged Carolyn that he bought a “1970 Pontiac Firebird. The car I've
always wanted and now I have it. I rule!” Yes, he has bought something
materialistic, but it is not practical. It is symbolic of youthful exuberance.
His “rule” contrasts with that of “The King’s” purely monetary accumulation of
wealth. When he starts to remind Carolyn of her once youthful joy, and she
passionately responds to his kisses, she then stops him in his tracks when the
bottle of beer he is holding might spill on her expensive Italian silk couch.
The Firebird for him represents the excitement of youth, while her things
connotate status. He tells her “This isn’t life, it’s just stuff. And it
becomes more important to you than living.”
Lester’s
return to adolescence causes him to fixate on Jane’s teenage friend. Angela
Hayes (Mena Suvari), like a boy reaching puberty. Her first name implies
something angelic; however, her last name sounds similar to the character of
Lolita Haze, the title character in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. (As is noted on the IMDB site, “Lester Burnham” is an anagram
for “Humbert learns,” the name of the older character in Lolita who is fixated on the young girl. Thus, Lester’s name
implies the arc of his journey). So, Angela is a person of contradictions. On
the one hand, she represents purity, because of her age, but she talks
explicitly about her sexual adventures, which implies a loss of innocence.
Since Lester is forty-two years old, there is an obvious “ick” factor here,
which is not lost on Jane, who is grossed out by her father’s obvious
infatuation. But for Lester, it is a sort of rediscovering of his sexual
energy. Mendes cinematically provides us Lester’s perspective as he zeroes in
on Angela. It is at a basketball game, where Jane and her friend perform as
cheerleaders. Everyone disappears in Lester’s mind, and he imagines Angela
dancing seductively for him in a private performance. She slowly opens her
blouse, but what flies out are numerous rose blossoms. They can represent the
combination of life’s beauty and its eventual decay symbolized by the American Rose.
In fact, Lester has several fantasies involving Angela. In one he kisses her,
and a rose then comes out of his mouth. In another, she is in a bathtub full of
roses, saying how she needs him to bathe her because she is very “dirty.” He
envisions her naked, with roses strategically placed over her breasts and pubic
area. However, there are white backgrounds offsetting the color red in the
movie, as in the bathtub fantasy. (We also see it with a red door against a
white frame; blood on a white shirt; a red car in front of a white garage door
– all of which are mentioned on IMDB). The white can signify youthful innocence
becoming compromised by encounters with sex and violence as one grows up. Lester’s
fantasies may be uncomfortable for some to watch, but he is at least using his
imagination, which makes him more alive than what he was before his
reawakening.
Jane
and Angela are opposites in the film. Jane wants to fit in, doesn’t, and feels
shame when she does not believe she meets the standards, especially those of
“beauty,” imposed upon her. Thus, she wants to use her babysitting money for
breast augmentation. In a way, she is like her mom, because she thinks of her
father as a freak when he acts inappropriately for his age, and later tells
Ricky that her father should be a “role model”. And, it is difficult to blame
her, because that’s the job a mature parent usually plays. Angela, however,
represents what America worships, a blonde beauty. She has already worked as a
model, and seeks a future in that field. Boys, and men, adore her. In this
story, she is, apparently, already the grown-up, talking about how she seduced
a famous photographer to get ahead, and proud of her purported promiscuity,
waving it like a flag of savvy sophistication. But, she doesn’t want to just
fit in, she wants to excel, but within the boundaries of what society values.
She admits that the worst thing in the world to her is being “ordinary.” (Which
is what Lester calls himself. But, what makes him extraordinary is that he says
he jettisons what suburbia prizes, so he “has nothing to lose.” That allows him
the freedom to do and say what he wants. Mendes also cited Ordinary People as another influence, a film about seemingly
regular upper-middle class people with unusual problems.)
Since
this movie urges us to “look closer,” we should better examine Ricky Fitts, who
is the filmmaker’s surrogate, using his camera to reveal more deeply about what
he sees, including Jane and Angela. Angela tells Jane that he was in their
school, but left for a few years and put in a mental hospital before returning
now as a student. Both girls consider him weird, the same branding Carolyn
gives to Lester’s unconventional activity, weirdness also being a condition
attributed to artists, as they reflect in their creations the insights they
observe. Ricky focuses his camcorder, not on the traditionally photogenic
Angela, but instead on Jane. Angela considers him a freak for ignoring her,
thus not accepting the given criteria of beauty. He sees a deeper beauty in
Jane, and a kindred spirit. She at first finds his oddness off-putting, but she
begins to find self-importance through his attention. We observe her seeing
herself in a different light, the way Ricky sees her, when he records her (as
does Mendes) through her bedroom window, ignoring the exhibitionistic writhing
of Angela. Just as Lester saw himself as in a jail, reflected in his computer
monitor, so now Jane looks in a hand mirror, finally able to admire herself.
Ricky also records a dead bird, and says he can see “beauty” in it, because
“it’s like God looking right at you.” As Jane and Ricky walk together, they see
a funeral procession drive by, and Jane says she never experienced seeing death,
a foreboding of what will happen to her father. Ricky shows Angela what he
feels is the most beautiful thing he ever recorded – a bag blowing in the wind.
The way it floats and moves is like nature creating a ballet, and inviting him
to join in the cosmic dance. He had an epiphany the day of that recording, because
he “realized there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly
benevolent force that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid,
ever.” He says despite the limitations of what his recordings reveal, they help
him “remember” that “there’s so much beauty in the world.” Ricky has achieved a
sensibility which allows him to appreciate the totality of life.
Ricky’s
perspective on life is diametrically the opposite of his father’s. Frank Fitts
(Chris Cooper), a colonel in the U. S. Marine Corps, definitely wants to live
up to his name, and overcompensates to do so. He looks at the newspaper and
sees his country “going to hell,” probably because not all of it is marching to
the sound of the same drummer. His career as a military man shows how much he
wants himself and his family to follow society’s orders, and deviation from
that norm warrants punishment. His wife, Barbara (Allison Janney) is so
intimidated by any deviation from his rigid order, that she cringes in guilt
when someone calls at the door, as if it is her fault. She appears like a
Stepford Wife. She serves Ricky bacon, even though he doesn’t eat it, because
that is the food she has been told to cook. She apologizes for the way the
house looks, when it is completely clean and devoid of clutter. Frank tells his
son that the boy needs structure and discipline. He comes to collect urine to
make sure he hasn’t been using drugs (a test Ricky dodges by securing someone
else’s samples, again showing how he lives a life that underscores how one
can’t tell a book by its cover).
After
Ricky breaks his father’s rule about staying out of his stuff by showing Jane a
Nazi dinner plate, Frank beats his son. The father relents when Ricky says that
he was showing the plate to his “girlfriend.” Frank seems relieved that his son
is showing heterosexual interest, because one thing he professes to hate are
homosexuals. He is repulsed by the gay neighbors who welcome him to the
neighborhood. Mendes again uses the mirror motif, as Frank sees the reflection
of the gay men jogging in the polish of his car as they approach. What Frank is
seeing is his own self-hating, closeted homosexuality coming toward him,
scaring him because he does not want to “look closer” at himself. He is not
capable of changing his perspective, so when he looks at a video which Ricky
just happened to record of a naked Lester working out, he assumes that his son
is really gay. This misconception is confirmed in his mind when he sees Lester
running with the gay neighbors, when all Lester is doing is trying to do is get
into shape. When Frank spies his son through the window of Lester’s garage, he
thinks he sees Ricky performing oral sex on Lester, when all the boy is doing
is leaning over to roll a joint.
Let’s
get back to Lester working out. He overhears Angela purposely shocking Jane by
saying that he would have sex with her dad if he just toned up a bit. Lester
pulls out his weights, buried in the garage and starts pumping iron. We again
have Mendes using that mirror image, as Lester looks at himself in the garage
window as he hardens his muscles, perceiving himself as a rejuvenated object of
masculinity. In the meantime, Carolyn feels broken, because Buddy broke off
their affair after Lester saw them necking at the drive-through window at the
burger joint. For Buddy, business always comes first, and he feels it will
suffer if there is more evidence of infidelity, both of them still being
married. However, Buddy introduced Carolyn to the American way of relieving
tension, shooting a gun, obviously here associated with sexual release, and
accentuating how sex and violence are joined together in American culture. She
now carries a gun around with her. After we catch up to that first scene of the
movie, we realize Jane and Ricky were just kidding about killing Lester. Will
it be Carolyn who does him in?
After
Frank confronts Ricky over what he thought he saw going on with Lester, Ricky
realizes he can liberate himself from his father. He lies by saying he
performed gay sex acts for money. His father again hits him, and Ricky knows
his father will finally not search for him if he leaves. The rain is pouring
outside, and Frank visits Lester in his garage. Lester admits that his wife is
not around and is probably having sex with someone else. He says he doesn’t
care about that, since his marriage is just for appearances sake, which Frank
probably equates with his own marital situation. Frank is shivering form
getting soaked, and Lester says he should get out of the clothes. Frank,
misunderstanding Lester’s situation with Carolyn and Ricky, allows his
homosexual feelings to emerge, and kisses Lester, who tells him that he has the
wrong idea. After exposing himself this way, and having been rejected, Frank
leaves in shame.
Ricky
goes to ask Jane to run away with him, telling her he has enough money saved. She
now realizes she can contribute her savings since she no longer sees the need
to have cosmetic surgery to prove her worth. Angela is with her this night and
is outraged, calling Ricky a freak. Jane now waves the nonconformist flag,
telling Angela, “Then so am I. And we’ll always be freaks and we’ll never be
like other people and you’ll never be a freak because you’re just too …
perfect!” So, in their differentness, Jane and Ricky are special. Angela says
at least she’s not “ugly.” But, Ricky forces a new perspective onto Angela. He
tells her, “Yes you are. And you’re boring, and you’re totally ordinary, and
you know it.” He also tells her that Jane is not her friend, “She’s just
someone you use to feel better about yourself.”
To
think that someone can consider her “ordinary” feels like an assault on the
image Angela has tried to project about herself. She runs out of the bedroom,
crying. She runs into Lester, and seeks reassurance of her worth from him. She asks
him if she is ordinary, and he tells her what she wants to hear: that she
couldn’t be ordinary if she tried. They kiss, and Lester starts to undress
Angela. She now appears vulnerable, telling him this is her first time. Her
sexual bravado was just an illusion, a way of making her look more mature, and
worldly successful. She now looks to Lester, and us, like what she is
underneath the false surface, an insecure teenage girl. Lester now segues from
sexual exploiter to paternal protector. He covers her up, and gives her a
reassuring hug after she says she feels stupid for her actions. They talk about
Jane, and Angela tells Lester that his daughter is in love, to which he says,
“good for her.” Lester seems to have reached a level of peace with the world
now, coming back to his proper age as an adult, but with more appreciation for
life. He tells Angela that he feels “great,” as she goes off to use the
bathroom. And, ironically, or appropriately, depending on your point of view,
at this moment of tranquility, a gun appears at the back of Lester’s head, and
he is shot in the head. We see the different characters react to the shot from
their respective perspectives, but somehow, now all united in this one act,
joined together for the first time. It is Frank who did the shooting, probably
out of anger for being rejected, and maybe because the self-loathing of his sexuality
erupted into violence to assure that his repressed identity will not be
exposed.
Ricky
looks at the dead Lester as he did the expired bird. Lester seems to have a
smile on his face, and Ricky smiles, too, perceiving the beauty that Lester
experienced before his demise. Lester reveals that just before he died, he was
able to share Ricky’s view on life, telling us that he saw stars, and maple
trees, and his grandmother’s hands, and Carolyn, having fun on a rollercoaster,
enjoying life’s bumpy ride before she changed. He says, “there is so much
beauty in the world … and I can’t feel nothing but gratitude for every single moment
of my stupid little life.”
Perhaps
the movie is simply trying to tell us that, if we look close enough, we can
find beauty not only in a plant’s flowers, but also in its hidden roots.
The
next film is Bigger Than Life.
