American beauty

Anna Guicheteau, TL

American Beauty is a movie realized by Sam Mendes. This movie went out the 2 February 2000 in France but in 1999 in America. It covers the final days of the main character, Lester Burnham played by Kevin Spacey. He is famous in particular for the movies Superman Returns in the role of Lex Luthor(2006) or Usual suspect in the role of Verbal Kint (1995). The story takes place in a bourgeois detached house where lives the Burnham family wich is composed of the father Lester, the mother Carolyn played by Annette Bening, and her daughter Jane, played by Thora Birch. This family seems perfect but along the way we discover that it was juste a façade. This movie can be categorized as joining the minimalist current because of his choices like the acting, the music, the set or the dialogue. Indeed, the minimalism is a contemporary esthetic, literary, theatrical and musical trend characterized by an extreme economy of the implemented artistic ways. This current appeared at the beginning of 1960s in the United States.                                                                                           So, why can we say that the movie is based on the minimalism? At first we shall study the sets and after we’ll finish with the dialogues.

In the movie, the first sets is in the bedroom of the couple at (0 :35). In the bedroom there is a white bed, white bed cover and white pillows. Moreover, the chest, and the bedside tables are white like the floor and the wall. The room seems empty so we can consider that the scene is a minimalism scene. At 2 :21, we can see a garden with roses which are planted with the same space between them so we can supposed that the wife is perfectionist. When Lester is called in the main office at 4 :58, the wall behind him is only white with an abstract painting and a plant at the bottom. The room was basic and it makes a minimalist room without unnecessary things. During the diner (at 6 :44) at the center of the room there is a table with only four candles and a bouquet of red roses. There is any tablecloth or other decorations. We can conclude that from it it is the minimalism. At 9 :47, there is an example of minimalism when the camera shows a picture of the family with Lester, Jane and Caroline. This moment is accompanied by a sad music which make of this moment a moment full of feelings without add dialogues. At 19 :00 during the dream of Lester, when Angela is lengthened on a flowerbed, we can feel the passion and the love during the scene because of the red roses that make a uniform bottom. When Lester smokes with Ricky (32 :24) the bottom is just a white wall with a white door. It is a very simple and uncluttered frame. At 39 :50, we can see the bedroom of Ricky . In the bedroom there is a big TV and a library containing cassettes that they are all the same. It’s the only bottom and we can say that it’s the minimalism. When Caroline break up with Buddy Kane, a very famous estate agent, we find her in the car a few minutes later. In the bottom it’s raining and we can see what there is outside. The rain shows what Caroline feels inside. Finally, at 1H40 we can see Lester and Angela in the living room with only the rain behind them and the bouquet of red roses in front of. In conclusion, the sets used in the movie make of American Beauty a minimalism movie.

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