Retrospective Film Review

American Beauty (1999) • 25 Years Later — identity crisis and suburban dystopia in an iconic drama

A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.

In 1999, America was looking at itself in the mirror — but it didn’t like what it saw. Though perfect from a distance, people were starting to look closer. Like a dark red rose, the beguiling petals were alluring but betrayed the true nature of contemporary reality. While beautiful on the surface, there was a world of rot underneath the soil. At the turn of the century, as people began analysing their lives, the collective realisation was that they all had lost something… and they were searching to get it back.

Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a self-confessed loser. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), holds him underneath her thumb. His daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), has no respect for him. He loathes his job, and he resents the fact he must fight to keep it. But most of all, he hates what his life has become: a perfunctory…