American Beauty (1999)

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American Beauty movie storyline. Lester Burnham is suffering a mid-life crisis that affects the lives of members of his family, which is made up of his super bitch of a wife, Carolyn and rebelling daughter Jane, who hates him. Carolyn is a real estate agent, a little too wrapped up in her job, who takes on an affair with business rival Buddy Kane.

Meanwhile Jane seems to fall in love with Ricky Fitts, the strange boy next door, who is a drug dealer / documentarian and lives under a roof governed by a very strict marine father and a speechless mother. Lester’s mid-life crisis causes him to drastically change his life around when he quits his job and works at a fast food restaurant. He starts working out to gain the attention of Angela (a friend of Jane’s) who brags about her sexual exploits every weekend. Lives change and not for the best.

American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a 42-year-old advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter’s best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). Annette Bening co-stars as Lester’s materialistic wife, Carolyn, and Thora Birch plays their insecure daughter, Jane. Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, and Allison Janney also feature.

The film is described by academics as a satire of American middle-class notions of beauty and personal satisfaction; analysis has focused on the film’s explorations of romantic, and paternal love, sexuality, beauty, materialism, self-liberation, and redemption.

About the Production

Ball began writing American Beauty as a play in the early 1990s, partly inspired by the media circus around the Amy Fisher trial in 1992. He shelved the play after realizing the story would not work on stage. After several years as a television screenwriter, Ball revived the idea in 1997 when attempting to break into the film industry. The modified script had a cynical outlook that was influenced by Ball’s frustrating tenures writing for several sitcoms.

Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen took American Beauty to DreamWorks; the then-fledgling film studio bought Ball’s script for $250,000, outbidding several other production bodies. DreamWorks financed the $15 million production and served as its North American distributor. American Beauty marked acclaimed theater director Mendes’ film debut; courted after his successful productions of the musicals Oliver! and Cabaret, Mendes was, nevertheless, only given the job after 20 others were considered and several “A-list” directors turned down the opportunity.

Spacey was Mendes’ first choice for the role of Lester, though DreamWorks had urged the director to consider better-known actors; similarly, the studio suggested several actors for the role of Carolyn until Mendes offered the part to Bening without DreamWorks’ knowledge. Principal photography took place between December 1998 and February 1999 on soundstages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, and on location in Los Angeles.

Mendes’ dominant style was deliberate and composed; he made extensive use of static shots and slow pans and zooms to generate tension. Cinematographer Conrad Hall complemented Mendes’ style with peaceful shot compositions to contrast with the turbulent on-screen events. During editing, Mendes made several changes that gave the film a less cynical tone than the script.

Released in North America on September 17, 1999, American Beauty was positively received by critics and grossed over $356 million worldwide. Reviewers praised most aspects of the production, with particular emphasis on Mendes, Spacey, and Ball; criticism focused on the familiarity of the characters and setting. DreamWorks launched a major campaign to increase the film’s chances of Academy Award success; at the 72nd Academy Awards the following year, the film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Spacey), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. It was nominated for and won many other awards and honors, mainly for the direction, writing, and acting.

Principal photography lasted about 50 days from December 14, 1998, to February 1999. American Beauty was filmed on soundstages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, and at Hancock Park and Brentwood in Los Angeles. The aerial shots at the beginning and end of the film were captured in Sacramento, California, and many of the school scenes were shot at South High School in Torrance, California; several extras in the gym crowd were South High students.

The film is set in an upper middle-class neighborhood in an unidentified American town. Production designer Naomi Shohan likened the locale to Evanston, Illinois, but said, “it’s not about a place, it’s about an archetype. […] The milieu was pretty much Anywhere, USA—upwardly mobile suburbia.” The intent was for the setting to reflect the characters, who are also archetypes.

Shohan said, “All of them are very strained, and their lives are constructs.” The Burnhams’ household was designed as the reverse of the Fitts’—the former a pristine ideal, but graceless and lacking in “inner balance”, leading to Carolyn’s desire to at least give it the appearance of a “perfect all-American household”; the Fitts’ home is depicted in “exaggerated darkness [and] symmetry”.

Film Review for American Beauty

The tragic, absurdist, dark domestic tale of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), who calmly narrates his own story posthumously a la Joe Gillis from Sunset Boulevard (1950) – he’s a “chronic loser” and American suburbanite family man who is unable to speak his mind or actually feel much of anything. But in a mid-life awakening, he becomes infatuated with his self-loathing daughter Jane’s (Thora Birch) under-aged cheerleader friend Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari).

After enduring too many years of a demeaning job, and a dysfunctional marriage to his obsessive-compulsive, adulterous realtor wife Carolyn (Annette Bening), while feeling disrepect from Jane — who has fallen for the drug-peddling, video-voyeur neighbor next door Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), Lester decides to make radical, ultimately fatal changes to his suburban life. American Beauty was the first film by longtime English stage director Sam Mendes and playwright Alan Ball, who both won Academy Awards for their work, as did long-time cinematographer Conrad L. Hall.

Directed by: Sam Mendes
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Mena Suvari, Allison Janney, Peter Gallagher, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper, Scott Bakula, Sam Robards, Ara Celi
Screenplay by: Alan Ball
Production Design by: Naomi Shohan
Cinematography by: Conrad L. Hall
Film Editing by: Tariq Anwar, Christopher Greenbury
Costume Design by: Julie Weiss
Set Decoration by: Jan K. Bergstrom
Art Direction by: David Lazan
Music by: Thomas Newman
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexuality, language, violence and drug content.
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: September 17, 1999