American beauty [DVD]

Director Sam Mendes makes his feature film debut with this film about the dark side of an American family and the nature and cost of beauty in a culture obsessed with outward appearances. Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a man in his mid-40s going through an intense mid-life crisis. His relationship with his wife Caroline (Annette Bening) is not a warm one - on the surface she is in full control of her life, inside she feels empty and desolate. Their teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is depressed and has a chronic lack of self-esteem. Lester falls into uncontrollable lust with Jane’s beautiful best friend Angela (Mena Suvari) and she becomes part of a drastic plan to change his body and his life. Meanwhile, their new next-door neighbor, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper) has spent a lifetime in the Marine Corps and can tolerate no other way of life, which makes things very difficult for his son Ricky, an aspiring filmmaker and part-time drug dealer who is obsessed with beauty, wherever and whatever it may be. This film is a darkly humourous, scathing and shocking journey through life in suburban America. (Awards: Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor 1999)