One of the most interesting films of the past 20 years is American beauty. The story revolves around the life of Lester Burnham, a public relations representative tired of his life and his work. This seemingly harmless situation becomes a tragedy when Lester falls in love with Angela, the friend of twenty years less than him and his daughter. From that tiny and forbidden emotion, Lester begins to confront its own situation, becoming, for the first time in years, owner of his own destiny. He renounces his work, tries to regain his wife, finds amistar with his daughter, starts an exercise regimen and begins to consume recreational drugs. However the film acquires poetical piping due to the past that shows to Lester in love with his wife.
It’s a photograph in which Lester, his wife Carolyn and her daughter Jane, enjoy hugging a night rides. Time has become an ambitious real estate broker, obsessed with self-help and courses with finding rose to Carolyn perfect. Metaphors are repeated: when Lester dreams of Angela, is seen surrounded by perfect rose petals. Is Angela an attempt to retrieve his wife Carolyn was? The use of the metaphor of the rose, seems to indicate that it is. Meanwhile, Carolyn has an affair with Buddy Kane, a broker of real estate self-centering. When Lester learns of his wife’s infidelity, does not bother or is depressed: rejoices. When Lester lets go to Carolyn, his obsession with Angela disappears and instead the girl, played by an impressive Mena Suvari, decides to conquer to Lester. When Lester achieves its goal with Angela, it has already lost its interest for her.
It has already lost his wife: the then and the now. The workmanship of American beauty-level plot is comparable to a Baroque Cathedral, in which symbols are repeated and are contrasted each other. Humor that runs through the work, allows to appreciate symbologies directly in the eyes, as friends that we know for some time. As well, the work that manages to Lester in a Macdonalds, is it contrasts with the ambitious real estate. The gay couple whose neighbors turn out to be healthier than the classical family who moves to the block. The escapades of Lester and Ricky (the son of his neighbor) remind us that even at 40 or 50 years, we are still the same, with the same capacity of having fun and falling in love. When Lester is identified with Ricky, the latter ends up insulting Angela, seeing in her ugliness that Lester, with more experience, is unable to see. Lester is more mature, observer and wise than Ricky and Ricky is however able to contemplate beauties that are not of this world, but that inhabit. Full of symbols, humor and tragedy, American beauty is a film for the story, that achieved show that magic of life that sometimes seems to fade with time. Original author and source of the article.
