American Beauty

Lester (Kevin Spacey) is bored with his life, his job, his wife (Carolyn, played by Annette Bening), and his home. In the midst of what appears to be a mid-life crisis, he is laid off his job and falls hard for a high school girl, his daughter's best friend. His imaginary affair with her renews and reinvigorates him, and Lester decides to make his life, if not exciting again, at least not stagnant. Lester's family and life are contrasted with two other families: the next door neighbors, a family headed by a retired military man (Chris Cooper) who is a closet psychopath and whose son is a closet drug dealer; and two gay men, who live the only normal family life we see, bringing welcome gifts to new arrivals in the neighborhood. Lester becomes the order taker at a fast food restaurant and lives a second childhood with much comic relief. The movie is well-written and well-acted, with a lot of tension at the end as we wonder how Carolyn is going to resolve her own conflict concerning ending her marriage with Lester.

This is a movie about plastic. The title is a reference to American Beauty Roses, which are the roses presented to the winner of the Miss America Pageant. Lester's fantasy girlfriend, Angela, represents the youthful dream of plastic, and his wife, Carolyn, represents the dream turned real plastic. Lester's life has become plastic, the real future from as far back as "The Graduate." Lester's daughter, Jane (played by Thora Birch), thinks herself unattractive (Angela is blonde, a model, and claims sexual experience) and wants plastic breast implants to improve others' view of her.

While this is a very enjoyable movie, it's not great. Sam Mendes, the director, really pounds us over the head with the rose petal metaphor. The petals fall from the ceiling and Carolyn doesn't notice, Lester spits petals out of his mouth and they just sort of disappear -- these are huge clues that the petals are a metaphor, so then we have to figure out what for.

I'll say that the roses appear during scenes which are Lester's fantasy or in which he is shown having a fantasy. Angela in the bath, covered in floating petals is a scene which is Lester's fantasy. Lester in bed smiling rapturously with petals floating down from nowhere is a scene in which he is shown having a fantasy. So what are we to make of this? My suggestion is that Lester is having a midlife crisis and he's trying to have a second -- well, not childhood but there's no word for teenagehood, so let's make it up: a second teenagehood. The petals in the bath represent that first love and the first exploration of sexuality while Lester was in the bloom of youth -- as Angela is at the time of the movie. I would even go so far as to suggest that the petals represent Angela's labia and that when Lester finds a petal in his mouth, it represents his fantasy of the taste of Angela, as well as the taste of youthful love.

The petals are a metaphor which we use to compare Lester's fantasy of his and Carolyn's lost youth and lost youthful love with how things are at the time of the film. Objects have become more important than fun -- Lester is not supposed to drink beer in his living room because it might stain the fabric. Appearances are more important than feelings -- watch their dinner scenes; listen to Jane talking about herself; listen to Angela and Jane talk. Thus, I see the petals as a metaphor for loss.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE

Ultimately -- as he should, of course -- Lester realizes that actually realizing his fantasy of sex with Angela would be wrong. (I think of Woody Allen's line in "Annie Hall": Annie says, "Sex without love is an empty experience." Alvy replies, "Yes, but as empty experiences go, it is one of the best.") And then we come to the scene where his blood on the wall replaces the petals of the rose as a metaphor for loss.