Frank and April Wheeler (the reunited Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) are having struggles but that instantly changes when April suggests that they move to Paris to fulfill a life-long dream of Frank's. And besides, they're in a rut, April's acting career is garbage and Frank is working in advertising and while it pays the bills, it is far from his dream occupation.
For a while, things are better between the couple, Frank ends his meaningless affair with a secretary, Maureen (Zoe Kazan), but then April finds out that she's pregnant again and doesn't want the baby. Frank manages to talk her out of an abortion (keep in mind that this is the 1950s), but the damage has been done. Frank decides to take this fancy promotion at work so Paris is off the table and April is devastated. They go back to bickering at each other constantly and a confrontation meeting with their friend's son, John (Michael Shannon) only makes their fragile relationship much worse.
Instead of Leo dying, as he did needlessly in Titanic (there was totally room for him on that door), Kate dies, bleeding to death after attempting (and succeeding) with aborting the baby herself.
While it ends sadly, the entire film is rather sad, full of drinking and chain smoking cigarettes. Frank doesn't support April's dream, April tries to support Frank but he changes his mind without telling her, letting the money do the talking, and he barely has pride in his job despite his obvious talent. While the Wheelers long to be extraordinary, they will, unfortunately, just remain a cautionary tale. Here, Winslet and DiCaprio deliver their best work I've seem to date, despite Leo portraying the typical 1950s husband (aka, an asshole), not even lifting a finger to help his pregnant wife whisk eggs in their final scene together. Winslet should have won her Oscar for this role, not The Reader, though she was good in that role as well. Still, the basic plot is rather timeless, when are your dreams worth giving up? Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Kathryn Hahn and David Harbour as good friends of the Wheelers, Milly and Shep. Shep really loves April, and the two have coitus in the passenger seat of his car.
-Poor Kate Winslet. In this film, she has sex on the kitchen counter and in the car, but never in the bed.
-The poor Wheeler daughter, her first name is never mentioned while their son's is mentioned several times. His name is Michael.
-Despite brilliant performances all around, only Michael Shannon got a nomination, fully deserved as the disturbed former mathematician.
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