Has anyone else seen this movie or read the book? I don't want to give away any important plot turns for those who haven't seen it, but I will say that Kate Winslet's character is desperately sick of living as a cookie cutter housewife and mother in her suburban neighborhood. In one scene, while trying to convince her husband to move themselves and their two kids to Paris so that she and the mister can regain excitement and fulfillment in their lives, she says that, "We moved here because I was pregnant and then we had the next one to prove that the first one wasn't a mistake!"
The acting is first rate and the script is great as well. The breeder characters are so predictable, but they're also chillingly realistic. And I always find it interesting when a pre-
Feminine Mystique woman, even if she's fictional, boldly speaks out against the boredom and waste of being a June Cleaver. Leonardo DiCaprio's character, on the other hand, is the one who stubbornly pushes for a lifetime of McMansions and Polaroid moments while being anything but the ideal family man. In the first few minutes of the film, we see him charm a young secretary at his workplace into leaving the office early so that he can get her drunk and bed her before going home to his wife and two children, who are waiting for him with a surprise cake to celebrate his birthday. Like I said - realistic!
It's a good movie, but disturbing. I'd like to read the novel.