Just because Caroline perceives to be a happy middle class lady on the outside, on the inside she is struggling with her emotions. On the outside, Caroline appears isolated and controlling, but underneath she yearns for passion and power. In the movie, the director portrays this by in the beginning of the film, when Caroline undresses to clean a house and underneath her drab yellow suit is a crimson red camisole. And then when she cleans the dark and shadowy house, she is backlit with brightly colored walls. When she has her private breakdown, she covers her face with her powerful sexy red nails to mask her uncharacteristic behavior. .
The family is portrayed as normal and perfectly content, but really it is the exact opposite and as the movie progresses on, we will see the bad things that take place in the unhappy home. The family is portrayed as normal on the outside because of their beautiful big house. They live in a peaceful suburban neighborhood. Their house is striking white with an eye catching bright red door. It is perfectly landscaped with a gorgeous garden and a picket white fence surrounding it. It is a perception of a house in an American Dream. From the outside, many people would perceive that a happy family lives inside the house. On the inside, there is a dysfunctional, depressed family that has so many issues. .
Another situation in where appearance versus reality is apparent is in the Colonel Fritt. On the outside, you perceive him as a stern, harsh man with many rules. He comes off as very strict and you would never want to get in his way. He is a type of man that seems to be prejudice of homosexuality. You can conclude this because of his beliefs and the fact he was in the military. At one part in the movie, the Colonel and his son Ricky are driving in the car to school and the Colonel makes it clear that he hates faggots and that Ricky should share the same beliefs.
