American Beauty
A suburban father's infatuation with his daughter's friend jolts him out of midlife despair, but the perfect surfaces around him hide deeper fractures.
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About the film
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What it’s about
Lester Burnham is a depressed suburban father stuck in a midlife crisis. His job offers no respect, and his family life is a hollow shell: his wife Carolyn is having an affair with a colleague, and his teenage daughter Jane is drawn to the boy next door, who has been in a psychiatric hospital. When Lester becomes infatuated with Jane's classmate Angela, the sudden passion gives him a surge of energy and a renewed appetite for beauty.
What hooks you
Sam Mendes directs a cast led by Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening, with Thora Birch as their daughter. The film won five BAFTA awards, three Oscars, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Golden Globes, including Best Director and Best Actor. Its title plays on a hybrid red rose, a motif that appears throughout, and the slogan "Look Closer" hints at the hidden tensions beneath suburban calm.
Who it’s for
It is worth a look for anyone who enjoys dramas about family secrets, midlife recklessness, and the gap between appearance and reality. It will also appeal to those drawn to satirical views of suburban life and to stories where desire upends routine.
- Country
- United States
- Year
- 1999
- Running time
- 2h 2min
- Age rating
- 16+
- MPAA
- R
- World premiere
- Sep 8, 1999
×23.8box office to budget
Ratings
MOVIE․ONE · 910 votesCreative team
All 9
Trivia
All facts 10
- The original title of the film contains a play on words: American Beauty is a hybrid variety of red rose; this fact is repeatedly played upon throughout the film and was also used in its advertising.
- The film's tagline "Look Closer" appeared by chance when a sign with these words on Lester's desk caught the director's eye.
- The hand and stomach depicted on the film's poster actually belong not to Mena Suvari, but to actress and model Chloe Hunter.
- According to Alan Ball, the film owes much of its existence to a moment when the screenwriter was sitting in a plaza in front of the World Trade Center and watched a paper bag floating in the air — it was this scene that prompted him to sit down at his desk.
- While Annette Bening got the role of Carolyn right away, besides Kevin Spacey, Chevy Chase, Jeff Daniels, and Tom Hanks also vied for the role of Lester (the latter went on to star in Sam Mendes's next film, «Road to Perdition»).
- The role of Angela Hayes was unsuccessfully offered to seventeen-year-old Kirsten Dunst.
Awards and nominations
17 wins · 19 nominations
- 5 wins Academy Awards
- 3 wins Golden Globe Awards
- 6 wins BAFTA Awards
- 3 wins Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Best Director Sam Mendes Academy Awards · 2000
- Best Cinematography Academy Awards · 2000
- Best Actor Kevin Spacey Academy Awards · 2000
- Best Film Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks Academy Awards · 2000
- Best Screenplay Academy Awards · 2000
- Best Film (Drama) Golden Globe Awards · 2000
Also nominated MTV Movie & TV Awards2 César test1 Cesar Awards1 European Film Awards1
Franchise
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1999
American Beauty
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Венгерская красавица Remake
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American Beauty (1999)
American Beauty
1999
American Beauty
1999
American Beauty
1999