Yesterday Mick and I had a day date and went to the movies to see ‘Revolutionary Road.’ It is a movie about a marriage.
So often we hear that it is women who want to talk out their problems and men who don’t listen. In this case he often wanted to talk about the problems but the wife didn’t want to talk about the problems they were experiencing.
The crowd, with the exception of a few brave men like my husband, was predominately female. A collective gasp ran around the theater like a current of electricity when he raised his hand in the beginning of the movie to hit her. In the end he bashed the car instead. From there it took you inside the marriage.
The husband in the movie felt trapped in a job he hated while his wife felt trapped by suburban American of 1950s and another unwanted pregnancy. Both of them tried to solve their frustrations by using other people and sex.
It certainly wasn’t a feel good movie. It was a movie filled with anger and frustration. Given the language and the sex scenes it is definitely a movie for couples only, not the family. It was thought provoking and involved the viewer in the lives of the characters, though it did make me wonder about certain aspects of American suburban life and the idea of living up to other people’s expectations.
We’ve been looking at how to argue with your spouse recently. The characters in this film broke just about every rule in the book. As I read the headlines later in the day about families torn apart by violence and shootings, it made me wonder how many people have lives like that – lives of feeling trapped and desperate.
Mick and I grew up in suburban Australia and lived the majority of our married lives in suburban Australia, and I never remember feeling trapped. Neither does he. Yes, we talked about that and a host of other things to do with marriage and family life after the movie.
Please visit these related blogs
Recognizing the Cycle of Domestic Violence
When Your Spouse Doesn’t Listen
What Do Men and Women Look for in an Affair?