revolutionary road, part two

part one

In many ways, it is also a feminist movie. There is one scene in particular that makes this point. In it, April goes to Frank with a) the news that she's pregnant and b) a plan to get an abortion (consider that this was well before Roe v. Wade). She feels that this is the best way to continue with their plan to move to Paris. He is furious, and tells her that no sane, normal woman / mother would even consider such a thing (he later asks if she really loves her kids). And you can see on her face the pressure of living with a society that tells you that it is freakish, abnormal, insane (and this carries with it the various sanctions that society can impose on those who are insane), etc to think what you're thinking. And it can be very hard indeed to fight the system.

It is also interesting to realize that, by the end of the movie, Frank is happy with suburbia - with his well-paying job, his nice house and swell kids, his beautiful wife. It's April who can't stand it, who's being driven mad by suburbia. And consider that while she initially casts the plan to move to Paris as a chance for Frank to stop working and do what he wants, it would involve her getting a job. And maybe that's not exactly a downside, as far as she's concerned. (Indeed I think it is something she really desires). In other words, it is a feminist movie also insofar as it shows what being forced into one life path, a way of living that one may detest, can be really harmful - can drive you to desperation.

The wrong lesson to learn, of course, is that suburbia is awful. Like I said, Frank is happy (with his side of it, at least). So maybe there are some who really do like being suburban mothers. But that shouldn't be the only life available.