Summary of 2 scenes from American Beauty

Scene 1 We learn that Lester is a sad man and that he is lonely. We believe this as he masturbates in the shower. This also shows he may have a poor sex life with his wife and they may not be as sexually active as they previously have. We know they have a daughter, which shows they have had sex in the past, however he says its the highlight of his day, masturbating in the shower, which means he isnt either having a sexual relationship with his wife, or its not good and that it is boring. Lester also doesnt socialise well. When his wife is outside cutting roses, he is locked up inside and doesnt go out and talk to the neighbours. Also he doesnt speak much to his wife or daughter. His daughter thinks he is a loser; she and his wife belittle him and dont respect him. He is a very childlike character, we learn this when he is in the car sat in the back seat, acting very immature. He then falls asleep as he is being driven to work. His daughter is sat in the front of the car with his wife and is on her way to school. This is like a role reversal between the daughter wife and Lester. The wife is in Lesters position, the daughter is in the wifes position and Lester is in the daughters position. Lester is a very depressed character. The camera shot when he first wakes up shows a very empty room with only him in it on his front, his wife is already up and working in the garden. The room looks huge and empty the way it has been shot with Lester directly in the middle. It makes him look small and inferior like he is less important. The colours are only dull and beige and he has a very dull, monotonous lifestyle. He gets out of bed and puts his slippers on which were positioned there presumably the night before. He then goes and masturbates in the shower, which doesnt seem to be a one off. Also when he first wakes up after the loose frame and wide shot, we see after he just wakes up we see a close up, tight shot of Lester and his facial expressions look dull and glum like he doesnt want to get up and live the day at all. He is very negative and unhappy; however we learn he isnt that depressive as his first voice over ends on a positive note, with him being up beat and wanting to change his life. I believe the director is trying to show Lester is trapped in his life and cant change it. I believe this as we first see Lester in the shower. The director shot the scene from outside the shower cubicle, showing the constricted space representing Lesters life. Next we see him looking out the window at his wife and the neighbours and he doesnt venture outside into the bright, colourful garden. He stays behind the window and looks out upon the world as if like he is behind the bars of a cell (bars represented by the frame of the window.) Also we see the bars on his computer, which are data bars shot in this scene so that Lesters face is reflecting on the bars as if to look like prison bars, in front of his face.

Scene 2 The roses appear again, in the scene continuing the red colour from the motif of the red, white and blue in the American flag. The colours in this scene are still dull and beige, apart from the main red white and blue motif. The blue comes from the china in the scene as does some of the white. Also the table cloths are blue and there are roses in the centre of the table in front of the daughter. When they are at the table it is very dominated by the mother/ wife as she seems to wear the trousers. It is ironic that the daughter is in the centre of the table and is the character with the brightest and best lighting on them. The wife, although dominant, is a bright upbeat personality. As oppose to the daughter and Lesters mood which matches the music playing at the dinner table (opera.) The little boy who films from behind the window again shows theyre trapped and it also shows the extent of their relationship, that theyre trapped and arent going anywhere. In the final bit of the scent the only bright colours are the oranges and yellow and blue in the fruit bowl, however that brings your eyes over into the closest two thirds to the fruit bowl and shows the picture of what the family used to be like before they grew apart.

Sam Jones