American Beauty main backdrop
American Beauty main poster

American Beauty

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8.0/10 • 12K

1999-09-152h 2m

Drama

Look closer.

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Directors
Sam Mendes
Writters
Alan Ball
Editors
Tariq Anwar

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Kevin Spacey

    Kevin Spacey

    Lester Burnham

  2. Annette Bening

    Annette Bening

    Carolyn Burnham

  3. Thora Birch

    Thora Birch

    Jane Burnham

  4. Wes Bentley

    Wes Bentley

    Ricky Fitts

  5. Mena Suvari

    Mena Suvari

    Angela Hayes

  6. Peter Gallagher

    Peter Gallagher

    Buddy Kane

  7. Allison Janney

    Allison Janney

    Barbara Fitts

  8. Chris Cooper

    Chris Cooper

    Colonel Fitts

  9. Scott Bakula

    Scott Bakula

    Jim Olmeyer

Reviews3

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tmdb70752507 Avatar

tmdb70752507

Apr 8, 2020

10/10

The film American Beauty to me is a film about purpose. What is your purpose in life? The film teaches that there is such great beauty in the small things in life and that sometimes you need to take a step back to allow yourself to take in the unfiltered beauty in the small things like a plastic bag dancing in the wind, playing with the leaves. The film tells it's audience that the beauty in the small details is much greater than society's typical image of beauty. The prominent rose in the film is a symbol of false, surface beauty; the expensive and romantic flower is amongst almost every single shot in the film reminding us that we need to look beyond the surface beauty of an entity and see the beauty within. This message surrounding beauty is empathised with the inclusion of the rose on the films poster and the tagline, 'look closer' indicating that to see real beauty one must 'look closer', a task that typically requires more thoughtfulness and less immediate facial value judgements that make up the typical image of beauty.

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  • American Beauty poster
  • American Beauty poster
  • American Beauty poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$15,000,000.00
Revenue
$356,296,601.00
Keywords
estate agentadulterycoming outfirst timevirgincheatingparent child relationshipage differencemidlife crisischeerleaderdark comedyrosesatiredysfunctional familysuburbiacoming of agesexual fantasydysfunctional marriagemarijuanalonelinesslove affairexerciseextramarital affairrealtorquitting a jobvoyeurneighborhoodretired army mancloseted homosexualsinging in a cargay themeexistentialteenagercamcorder