American Beauty

"American Beauty" had me so baffled after my first viewing that I knew I had to watch it a second time in order to begin to grasp what it was saying. However, I did know that it was one of the best films I've seen in my life. Maybe because it concerned life and living and what that means, the most important topic in humanity. Roger Ebert once wrote that "the greatest films are meditations on why we are here." "American Beauty" does exactly that.

I didn't understand the scene of the floating bag until the second viewing. Initially, it was just a piece of trash dancing amidst leaves. But after viewing it again, I realized that is the central point of the film. Beauty is found in places one wouldn't ordinarily look. Most people would just walk by that bag, but for Ricky, it is the elegance, the formless, fluid movement that stops him and makes him film in wonder. If you actually watch the bag, it is beautiful. You do see the leaves following it like "foot soldiers," as Sam Mendes said. The bag is more beautiful when you forget you are watching a piece of plastic and embrace its trance-like movement of rising, falling, swirling, dancing, living.

This film views a typical American family and chronicles its demise. Or liberation, depending on how you look at it. The film begins with the father Lester (Kevin Spacey) existing, but not living. He comments that he "wasn't always this sedated," referring to the condition that I assume most Americans have experienced at least once. I think it is native to America because we have constructed a guarded, formal, relentless lifestyle that rejects intimacy and looks to possessions for happiness. Therefore, we end up feeling like we're already dead, like Lester says at the beginning of the film. He hates his job, he can't stand up to his wife, and he no longer can relate to his daughter, Jane. His life is a disaster. Or, if you're Ricky, who films each of these situations, they are beautiful.

How are they beautiful? They are beautiful because they are the beginning of a change, a step towards life. The family goes through important life situations; Lester lusts over his daughters friend Angela; his wife Carolyn has an ongoing affair with "the King of real estate," Buddy; and Jane falls in love with Ricky. The latter is the only positive situation of the three, because Ricky loves Jane for her unconventional beauty. He loves her because he thinks she is unique and beautiful. And in one truly remarkable scene, this love is seen. Jane has just been slapped by her mother. She goes over to the window and finds Ricky filming her from his house next door. In an act of intimacy, she takes of her clothes for him--not to seduce him, but to show that she trusts and needs him. As her naked body is exposed on the official film of the movie, it cuts to Ricky's camera--he is not filming her breasts, but just her face. It is a touching scene that shows the audience the love Ricky has for Jane. All the while, the audience sees the suspicious father of Ricky, Conrad, in shadow.

Meanwhile, Lester has quit his job and started working at a fast food restaurant, where he discovers Carolyn's affair when she makes out with Buddy in the drive thru. But Lester isn't hurt; he says it's okay, because he wants Carolyn to be happy. He has found his freedom in saying what he wants and going after what he wants. He works out in order to impress Angela, and one stormy night, he gets the chance. Angela had a fight with Jane and Ricky. Towards the end of the argument, Angela intentionally tries to hurt Jane by saying "yeah, well, at least I'm not ugly." And with insight into the theme of the movie, Ricky steps in and says "yes, you are. And you're boring, and you're totally ordinary, and you know it." A girl that has what the world calls beauty is called out by a boy who knows what true beauty is. This line in particular is perfectly delivered by Wes Bentley, who plays Ricky.

Angela storms out and runs downstairs, where Lester finds her. They exchange kisses and he undresses her. Just as he is about to move in on her, she tells him that she is a virgin, which seemingly snaps him back to reality. He was turned on by this girl, not woman. Lester clothes her and consoles her as she cries, and he realizes who she is, and who he is. They go into the kitchen to talk, and for the first time, Lester considers how he is really doing, how his life is going. He says he's great, and really means it. But then, as he reflects over the best moments of his life, he is killed, by one I will not name in hopes of not ruining the ending. But as Ricky and Jane come down to see what has happened, Ricky sees Lester dead on the counter, blood dripping down his face, and Lester seems happy. There is a small smile on his face that communicates that Lester died while he was content. And there is beauty in his death.

This film is exceptional because it comments on life, how beauty is found not in gorgeous women or sports cars or heated affairs, but in the smile on a dead man's face, or a girl who disappears in a crowd, or in a floating bag on the street. There is so much beauty in the world, we just have to learn how to see it.