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Notes from Underground

  And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Even now, so many years later, all this is somehow a very evil memory. I have many evil memories now, but ... hadn’t I better end my “Notes” here? I believe I made a mistake in beginning to write them, anyway I have felt ashamed all the time I’ve been writing this story; so it’s hardly literature so much as a corrective punishment.  Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are...
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Hope

To be human is to be a miracle of evolution conscious of its own miraculousness — a consciousness beautiful and bittersweet, for we have paid for it with a parallel awareness not only of our fundamental improbability but of our staggering fragility, of how physiologically precarious our survival is and how psychologically vulnerable our sanity. To make that awareness bearable, we have evolved a singular faculty that might just be the crowning miracle of our consciousness: hope.-- Erich Fromm


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American Beauty (1999)



"American Beauty" is a comedy because we laugh at the absurdity of the hero's problems. And a tragedy because we can identify with his failure"
 says in VO "Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey),main protagonist  of the story, an advertising writer, father and husband while the camera is flying over a "perfect"sleepy American suburb neighborhood . 

"Look at me, jerking off in the shower.This will be the high point of my day. It's all downhill from here."

He hates his job, he does not get love from his daughter Jane (who is saving up for breast implants even though augmentation is clearly unnecessary) , he is ignored by his wife Carolyn (whose garden sheers match with her footwear) , his sexual life is non-existent , he feels as if he has no purpose in their lives, even less in this world around him.



"Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser," Lester complains and in a way that is true.

Everything changes for Lester the night he is dragged along by his wife to see their daughter perform as a cheerleader. There on the floor, engrossed in a sub-Fosse pompon routine, he sees his angel: Angela, his daughter's high-school classmate. Is it wrong for a man in his 40s to lust after a teenage girl? Any honest man understands what a complicated question this is. Wrong morally, certainly, and legally.




"American Beauty" is not about a Lolita relationship, anyway. It's about yearning after youth, respect, power and, of course, beauty. The moment a man stops dreaming is the moment he petrifies inside and starts writing snarfy letters disapproving of paragraphs like the one above. Lester's thoughts about Angela are impure, but not perverted; he wants to do what men are programmed to do, with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

Angela is not Lester's highway to bliss, but she is at least a catalyst for his freedom. His thoughts, and the discontent they engender, blast him free from years of emotional paralysis, and soon he makes a cheerful announcement at the funereal dinner table: "I quit my job, told my boss to - - - - himself and blackmailed him for $60,000." Has he lost his mind? Not at all. The first thing he spends money on is perfectly reasonable: a bright red 1970 Pontiac Firebird.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/american-beauty-1999



















The film follows Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a middle-aged advertising executive who feels invisible and dead inside. His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), is a high-strung real estate agent obsessed with the appearance of success, and his teenage daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), views him with quiet contempt.

Lester’s "awakening" is triggered by an infatuation with Jane’s best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). This obsession leads him to quit his job, blackmail his boss, buy his dream car (a 1970 Pontiac Firebird), and begin smoking marijuana with his new neighbor, Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley). Ricky is a voyeuristic teenager who films the world through a camcorder, seeking "beauty" in unconventional places, like a plastic bag blowing in the wind. The story is told through Lester’s posthumous narration, as he informs the audience in the opening minutes that he will be dead by the end of the film.








The Facade of Suburbia

The film satirizes the "perfect" middle-class life. Carolyn Burnham represents the extreme of this—valuing the material and the "image" over genuine connection. The red roses she meticulously tends symbolize this manicured, superficial beauty that hides a lack of real passion.








The Symbolism of Red

The color red is ubiquitous, representing blood, passion, lust, and danger. It appears in Carolyn’s roses, the Firebird, and most famously in the surreal fantasy sequences where Angela is showered in rose petals.

















Critical Reception and Awards (1999)

At the time of its release, American Beauty was a massive critical and commercial success. It was praised for its sharp screenplay, Thomas Newman’s iconic percussive score, and Conrad Hall’s cinematography.

72nd Academy Award Wins:

  • Best Picture

  • Best Director (Sam Mendes)

  • Best Actor (Kevin Spacey)

  • Best Original Screenplay (Alan Ball)

  • Best Cinematography (Conrad Hall)









 Visual and Auditory Style

Conrad Hall’s Cinematography

The film is noted for its "tableaux" style—wide, static shots that emphasize the stillness and isolation of the characters. Cinematographer Conrad Hall used light and shadow to create a sense of voyeurism, making the audience feel as though they are peering through windows into private miseries.

Thomas Newman’s Score

The score is one of the most recognizable in cinema history. Moving away from traditional orchestral swells, Newman used unconventional instruments (marimbas, detuned pianos, and world percussion) to create a rhythmic, "ticking" sound that mirrored the suburban monotony and Lester's internal awakening.








The Ending: A Moment of Grace

The climax of the film subverts expectations. When Lester finally has the opportunity to sleep with Angela, he realizes her vulnerability—she admits she is a virgin and is actually terrified. Lester chooses to comfort her instead, marking his transition from a state of mid-life crisis to one of genuine maturity and "grace."

His subsequent murder by Colonel Fitts is presented not as a tragedy, but as a completion of his journey. In his final moments, he looks at a photo of his family and finds peace, realizing that the "beauty" he was looking for wasn't in Angela, but in the small, overlooked moments of his life.







"I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world." — Lester Burnham

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