His version of American Beauty is completely disconnected from the reality of the people and real life that surround him.įor Ricky's father, Frank, life comes crashing down when his latent homosexuality (that he so loathed to acknowledge) bursts forth in a moment of fateful self-revelation. After all, Ricky can find beauty in just about anything - his first reaction upon discovering Lester Burnham shot dead is to watch with passionless fascination the blood slowly ooze from the fresh wound in his head. It is Ricky, the mysterious boy next door, who literally shows us a close-up picture of "beauty" captured on film –- a discarded plastic bag dancing in the wind. Carolyn gets a taste of what it means to be at the top of the real estate industry when she hooks up with Buddy Kane, "the King of Real Estate." He has mastered the veneer of success and dumps her as soon as her looming divorce becomes a possibleįor Ricky, the mysterious boy next door, garbage is beauty.
Their dreams are nothing but illusions.Īngela, the object of Lester's fierce obsession, turns out to be nothing like what she appears to be. Looking closer, they see the decay that has replaced genuine beauty and meaning. For their neighbor, Colonel Frank Fitts, it is the semblance of a happy, normal domestic all-American life.īy the end of the film, most of the characters get a taste of their dreams and discover the underlying emptiness of their lives.For their teenaged daughter Jane, it is changing her physical appearance.For his wife, Carolyn, it is becoming the most successful real estate agent in her town.The characters in "American Beauty" are yearning to fulfill a dream that they think will somehow get them out of their miserable life:įor Lester Burnham, it is an overwhelming passion for a young girl. Look closer at the beautiful things we yearn for and spend our life chasing. "Look closer," the film's tag-line tells us. Alan Ball's richly textured screenplay - which presents a cast of peculiar, almost cartoon-like characters - feels more like an assemblage of metaphors than a tale of real-life people we can personally relate to. This somewhat contrived story is meant to be an allegory. "American Beauty" is more than a biting satire on suburban life.
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