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American Beauty


Colonel Frank Fitts lives with his drab wife and his renegade son Ricky. The interior of their house is particularly plain - mostly browns and greys. Ricky's room is sanitarily white, with grey Venetian blinds covering the windows. It is a dull environment, and is complemented by the interesting use of costume colours. Ricky dresses like, Angela Hayes aptly points out, "a bible salesman- - being black and white outfit with a grey woollen vest. Ricky's mother has an almost peasant look about her, also dressing in black, white and grey. Her wispy grey hair accentuates her dullness. This lack of colour must therefore be matched by actress Allison Janney, who plays Mrs. Fitts, in the regard that her personality is also bleak and unexciting - perhaps even not all there. The Burnham's daughter Jane is a ray of colour in a grey house - her room is orange and covered with posters. .
             American Beauty can be categorised as a "black- comedy. This in a sense can be taken literally - it is a dark film. Issues such as homosexuality, adultery, drug dealing and murder are all pivotal parts of the film. Therefore in order to express itself properly, the film must have bleak, shadowy lighting. Conrad L Hall achieves this by his extended use of low key lighting in a grey/black tone throughout the majority of the film. Such a technique forges the functions of atmosphere, tone and mood. The dinner scenes are excellent examples of this. The room is dark and shadowy, apart from an overhead light that illuminates the table and the centrepiece of red roses. Lester and Carolyn are burdened by darkness with Jane warmly lit from the candles. This represents the division in the household, with the long table separating Lester and Carolyn indicating the distance that has grown between them. Jane is the warmth of the family, and is the only Burnham to be lit in such a way for the majority of the film. In the opening scene, we se Lester sprawled out in bed, a bright crack of cold morning light missing him completely, illustrating where his wife is not.


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