How to understand the monologue at the end of American Beauty?

At the beginning of the film, the narrator of the hero tells us the end of the story: he is dead, which reminds people of the opening of billy wilder. The body of the hero william holden floats in the swimming pool, and his voice takes us back to the beginning of the story. Although many movies use this method, few textures are strong enough to support the known ending.

Lester was shot by a neighbor. Neighbor used to be an American colonel. He is so impulsive for many reasons. The most important thing is that his hidden homosexual tendencies tore the pretense of arrogance of the Marine Corps that night. He wants to kiss Lester because he thinks he is gay. There is also a reason why he thinks so. The main thing is that he mistakenly thought that his son had sex with Lester. But when the colonel found out that he had made a mistake, he was very angry.

What was Lester like before that? He is very, very unhappy. He has a nasty job writing in a magazine. He has a boss who is half his junior and thinks he is useless. He even has a wife who complains about his incompetence all day. What's more, he has a daughter who really despises him. Fortunately, two people appeared in time to save him. One is Ricky, the son of the colonel's neighbor. One is her daughter's good friend Angela, the cheerleader of the school basketball team.

Finally, his desire to "survive" was aroused, and he began to have a little imagination about life. So he resigned voluntarily, blackmailed his boss for $60,000 before leaving, bought a 70-year-old firebird car, went home to exercise, smoked marijuana, and always fantasized about Angela.

The title of the film American Beauty is actually a Rosaceae. Director Mendes used this rose to symbolize the perfection in life. Lester's sexual fantasies about Angela always spread out in the petals of roses. His extravagant imagination like dew after a long drought fully shows how "beauty" is lacking in his life. And his wife Caroline should also make up for the gap with her family by taking care of the garden and find her own meaning and beauty.

& lt American Beauty is an American style painting, which contains many social problems that are common in developed capitalist countries such as Europe and America. For example, the mental stress brought by money worship, monotonous life, personal frustration, sex, drugs, violence and so on. The empathy of American audiences will resonate with the details of the film everywhere. Here, we regard it as a special erotic films, focusing on the unique perspective of the film in describing the relationship between nondescript and nondescript.

First of all, as long as the alphabetical order of the name Lester burnham is slightly reversed, the name of the hero of Nabokov's classic novel-"humbert lines"; Angela Hayes, played by Manna Suvari, whose surname Hayes probably refers to Lolita Haze, a precocious girl, which shows that the screenwriter has considered it further when creating characters.

So, what is the relationship between "neither fish nor fowl" and what position does it occupy? This social taboo, if not handled properly, will seriously affect the development of characters and the harmony of stories. A 0/6-year-old girl became the savior of a 42-year-old middle-aged man. She gave him good hope and reasons to change his life. It can be said that such an angle has never been seen in similar subjects. Of course, this does not mean that the director is affirming such a relationship. Although they finally achieved a certain degree of liberation and growth, their starting point is.

Lester has a failed family. In the eyes of his wife and daughter, he is a complete failure. He hasn't had sex for a long time, and the climax every day is masturbation in the shower. My daughter hates him and his work is not satisfactory. People around him hardly care about his existence. "Never mind," he said. "Even I won't remember my existence."

Until one day he and his wife Caroline went to see her cheerleading performance at her daughter's school gym. Angela's dazzling appearance made him instantly see countless beautiful roses blooming on her chest. It seems that Lester was suddenly hit by desire for the first time in his life. Since then, he has taken the first step of spiritual rebirth.

In Lester's view, "beauty" is a kind of liberation, and the beauty he pursues is essentially the pursuit of breaking through the cage that surrounds all beings.

Angela is vulgar and arrogant. Her motto is "Nothing is worse than mediocrity", so she will try her best to show her charm in front of men, brag about her sexual experience in front of her classmates (such as sleeping with a photographer), and even make no secret of her dominance over men in front of her good friend Jane (especially Jane's father Lester). "If someone who doesn't know me at all looks at me and wants to sleep with me,"

In Angela's view, "beauty" is a kind of strength. The beauty she pursues is essentially the power to let herself surpass all beings.

It can be seen that two people are not tied together for pure sex, but are "opportunities" for each other to change.

The film seems to show that beauty is freedom, a soul that breaks imprisonment, and an unrestrained soul. However, Lester was finally shot, even though he had just escaped from the ugly world and just realized the beauty of life.

It seems that the real "American beauty" is beyond our reach.

We can only dream of waking up in our dreams.

The director is very clever and doesn't dwell too much on this "neither fish nor fowl" relationship. It becomes a lead, of moderate length, and ends in time at an appropriate time-that is, there is no real sexual relationship between Lester and Angela. That's the point. Before having sex, everything is tolerable and controllable. Once you have sex, this dangerous adultery is bound to start a prairie fire.

Probably for this reason, a sexual intercourse scene in the film was cut out. It happened between a 42-year-old father and a virgin of 16 years old. Screenwriter Paul explained that during the crazy period of writing the script, he didn't consider the consequences of this kind of thing happening to two stars. Later, an executive director of DreamWorks filmed this scene on the grounds that Lester didn't need to completely follow his own desires, because Angela was only the catalyst for his transformation. So we saw the changed appearance in the movie: Lester and Angela talked frankly in the kitchen, and the former finally went back to the old road of a strong father-before he died.

& lt American Beauty is similar to American Beauty in many aspects. For example, they both show the dullness and suffocation of American suburban residents' life, which indirectly shows that the pursuit of the so-called American dream is useless. They all criticize the death of "people" caused by greed for money and fame, and also use a lot of pen and ink to start a nondescript relationship-just that men and women have different positions. Maybe many viewers will think these ideas are fresh, but after all, a successful movie made a successful attempt more than 30 years ago.

Perhaps all aspects of the film are more in line with the life practice and aesthetic appetite of contemporary Americans. This film has won unprecedented cheers in the United States, and both critics and audiences are scrambling to squeeze into the cinema like treasures. Although the film was only shown in 429 theaters in the United States, its total box office revenue has ranked fifth in two weeks, and its sensational effect is probably only.

American Beauty is another "sleepless" American dream.