Revolutionary Road: "It didn't have to be Paris"

At a crucial moment in the film Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler tells her neighbor "it didn't have to be Paris." Paris, for most of the film, was just a representation of the ideal life. I, never being the biggest fan of philosophy, liked how middle of the road this film was. 

For the first half, the Wheelers overwhelmingly wanted to drop everything and follow their dreams. Their liberal yearnings were highly justified as Frank was "The Man in The Gray Suit" and April was Mrs. Cleaver. They couldn't stand it. Neither could I.

But about the half way point two things happen. April becomes pregnant and Frank gets promoted. It is at this point where the decent into madness begins. I've only seen the film once and may not understand some intricate pretentious idea - but I liked what I got from it: no answers. Things happen. Really intense things. But the film doesn't leave us with a "things are good" or "this is a good idea" or "this is the 'ideal'". That's because the people who made this were filmmakers, not philosophers. While philosophers like to think they can construct what we "ought" to be, Revolutionary Road understands that life isn't that simple and that sometimes liberal yearnings aren't as easy to jump on board with as philosophers might think.

While some may disagree, I felt that once we hit the halfway point both Frank and April's views were represented equally. So much so that when April makes the emergency phone call at the end there is immense depth to her last line in the film "I think I need help."

That line isn't supposed to indicate that she is crazy, per se. It's one of the best lines I've ever heard because it can be taken in many different ways. It's easy to derive from the story that she is clinically depressed. It's also easy to derive from the story that she is the "right" and Frank is the "wrong".

I feel that it is equal. And that both characters are right and wrong. The film is more so a cautionary tale without a clear advocacy. Frank argues that "we can have plenty of time to travel when we have the money. And we can't go to Paris with a baby on the way." and April argues "we aren't alive here." Both very valid, but what does it caution about? I think that it subtly shows that perhaps when Frank finally "gets the money to travel" he will be too busy to do so, yet April doesn't fully appreciate the difficulty of raising an infant in a foreign country - of course until she gives herself an abortion - but we all know how that ends.

It's a film about choices and their consequences and the fact that the choices are never clear. I've lived my life by the principle that "the grass is inherently greener on the other side" and I couldn't help but think about it the whole time during the film.

Yet I knew something was going to happen to destroy their liberal yearnings. There is no way its that easy. (1) Move to a foreign country, (2) live life.

It's like the end of Into The Wild. The angst within the main character caused him to live out his dreams and go to Alaska. But when he died he realized how lonely his life was. Revolutionary Road was a little different because I assume, had they gone to Paris, they would have stuck together as a family.

Nevertheless, I wonder if Paris is all that its cracked up to be? But then again thats why "it didn't have to be Paris", it was just the idea that you have to chase your dreams (more or less). And regardless of the fact that Revolutionary Road didn't provide clear answers for the audience, we can at least take that from it.