American Beauty Film Analysis

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Film analysis of ‘American Beauty’ American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. It stars Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, office worker and father, his materialistic wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) and his insecure daughter Jane (Thora Birch) as well as their neighbors Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper), Ricky (Wes Bentley), Barbara (Allison Janney) and Jane’s friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) as the principal cast. The director Sam Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England. Educated at Cambridge University, he joined the Chichester Festival Theater following his graduation in 1987. From there he went onto a successful path as a director, receiving prestigious awards for his works. He got his chance to direct his first feature film, American Beauty in 1999. The movie won five Academy Awards including Best Director for Mendes which is a rare feat for a first-time film director. This feat sky-rocketed his director and movie-career and he has directed several feature movies since, like Jarhead (2005), and Skyfall (2012). What is American beauty? The title of the film is often important to understanding the movie on a deeper level and receiving its message. One way of understanding it is that beauty is deceiving. Angela, the perfect, blonde, cute American girl is actually cold, cruel and distant to others while Jane, not so perfect body-wise is caring and, although distant to her parents, willing to open up towards people. Beauty is often superficial and an illusion. Another example of this is Carolyn, which is displaying a successful image, and therefore successfully beautiful, but in reality she is ugly in character towards her daughter and husband. Another way of understanding the meaning of the title is that it stands for the search for beauty. Lester is trying to regain the beauty in his life, after meeting
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