"I Saw a Different Life. I Can't Stop Seeing It": Perfectionist Visions in Revolutionary Road. Issue 3 (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Deb, Paul
• Is Part Of: Film-philosophy. Volume 25:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 251
• Page End: 271
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: Stanley Cavell -- Sam Mendes -- Leonardo DiCaprio -- Kate Winslet -- melodrama -- unknown woman -- moral perfectionism; Cinematography -- Periodicals; Cinematography -- Study and teaching; Journalism -- Philosophy; 791.4305
• DOI: 10.3366/film.2021.0175
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1466-4615

Abstract

Abstract : In this article, I claim that Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road (2008) is a recent version of the film genre that Stanley Cavell calls the "melodrama of the unknown woman". Accordingly, my discussion focuses on two key elements of that identification: the film's overriding dramatic and thematic emphasis on conversation, and the central characters' relation to the wider social and political concerns of America.