Summary

The movie opens with a grainy shot of Jane Burnham reclining on a bed, complaining about her father. An unseen boy (presumably the camera operator) asks her if she wants him to kill her father, to which she replies, "yeah. Would you?" The opening credits roll, and the shot switches to an aerial view of a neighborhood. As we fly over suburban America, Lester Burnham begins to speak, introducing himself to the audience and informing them, "in less than a year, I'll be dead." The shot then transitions into Lester Burnham's bedroom, where he is sleeping alone. An irritating alarm rings, and Lester, still in voice-over, ruminates on his sense that "in a way, I'm dead already." The voice-over continues as the camera follows Lester Burnham into the shower, where he masturbates - the "high point" of his day.

The next shot is a close-up of a beautiful red rose. The camera pans out to show Carolyn Burnham snipping roses from her garden with pruning shears that match her gardening clogs. Lester Burnham continues to narrate as the camera switches views. He describes the gay couple who live next door: Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley. Lester is watching from the window as his wife talks to one of the Jims about her roses. The view then switches to Jane, who is researching breast augmentation surgery on the Internet. Jane looks at herself in the mirror before leaving to join her mother, who is outside honking the car horn. As Jane walks out, her mother sarcastically congratulates her on having succeeded at making herself look terrible. As Carolyn nags Lester for making her late, he accidentally drops his briefcase, spilling the contents everywhere. In the car, Lester sleeps in the back seat while his wife drives and Jane sits in the passenger seat. The voice-over continues as Lester muses about how his life used to be different, how it used to be better. Lester then comments, "it's never too late to get it back."

The voice-over ends as the shot switches to a computer screen upon which Lester's face is reflected. He is at work, one man in a cubicle in a room full of men in cubicles. He is on the phone attempting to get some information from someone on the other end, and he learns that the person he needs to speak to is, yet again, not there. As the phone call ends, Brad Dupree approaches Lester's cubicle and asks for a minute of his time. The scene switches to Brad's office, where Brad is telling Lester about a new performance review. Lester cuts him off and begins to rant about the fact that the company paid for the hotel room where a higher-up got a hooker who then stayed for a week, running up a bill of fifty thousand dollars. Brad insists that this is only gossip, and he insincerely assures Lester that no one's being fired: they're just being asked to put in writing how they contribute to the company.

On the drive home Lester complains to Carolyn that he thinks the performance review is wrong. Carolyn is completely unsympathetic and tells him to stop over-dramatizing and give the efficiency expert what he wants. Carolyn points out that they have new neighbors and comments that the house would have sold faster if their old neighbors had hired her as their real estate agent. Lester reminds her that she cut down their sycamore tree, and she gets upset, insisting that as a substantial amount of the roots were on their property, it was not "their" sycamore tree. They go inside the house.

The camera focuses on several happy family pictures before settling on the Burnhams, who are sitting around the dining room table. Lester, Carolyn and Jane eat in a formal dining room, with candles lit and music playing. Jane asks if they always have to listen to this music, and Carolyn comments brightly that when Jane cooks dinner she can pick the music. Lester asks Jane how school was, but when he tries to get her to elaborate she becomes sarcastic and sullen. He starts to talk about Brad the Efficiency Expert, but quickly realizes that no one is listening to him. He comments that Jane doesn't care about how his day was, to which Jane responds that as he has barely spoken to her for months, he can't expect her to care. She leaves the table. Carolyn gives Lester a look, and Lester snaps at her. Carolyn becomes furious, and Lester gets up and goes into the kitchen. He tries to talk to Jane, apologizing for seeming distant and asking her what happened to their relationship: they used to have such a good one. The camera pans out and the shot becomes fuzzy: suddenly, it is apparent that there is someone standing outside, filming Lester and Jane through a window. The shot reverses to reveal a teenaged boy holding a video camera. He watches as Jane leaves the kitchen, and then films Lester as he begins washing dishes, looking frustrated. Finally the boy lowers the camera and walks away. Lester looks up, but no one is there anymore. The final shot of the scene is of a happy family picture sitting on a side table: clearly, things didn't used to be this bad in the Burnham household.

The next scene opens with Carolyn Burnham putting an "Open House" sign on the front lawn of a house she is trying to sell. She hums as she unloads her supplies from the car, but her good mood vanishes when she spots another agent's sign across the street - Buddy Kane, the "King of Real Estate". Inside the house, Carolyn proclaims, "I will sell this house today." She repeats this mantra as she strips down to her slip and proceeds to clean the entire house from top to bottom. Once she is finished, she opens the doors wide to reveal her first visitors. Carolyn walks several visitors through the (decidedly ordinary) house, brightly enumerating its positive attributes, but none look particularly interested. The last visitors, two women, complain that the pool is not "lagoon-like", as it was described in the ad. Carolyn desperately tries to put a positive spin on everything, but at the end of the day the house remains unsold. After the last visitor leaves she shuts the blinds of a sliding glass door, leans against them, and begins to cry. She sobs uncontrollably for several moments, but then suddenly screams at herself to "shut up!" and slaps her own face again and again. After a few gasping breaths, she pulls herself together and walks towards the front door.

The next scene begins with Jane sitting in a high school gymnasium with her cheerleading team. The girl sitting next to her asks her who she's looking for, and Jane tells the girl that her parents said they were coming, wondering aloud why her parents can't just settle for their own lives. In the car on the way to the game, Lester asks Carolyn how she knows Jane even wants them to come. Carolyn insists that it's important for them to be there, and Lester complains that he's missing some good television. Lester then comments that Jane hates them both. At the basketball game, Jane watches as her parents arrive, disturbing an entire row of seats as they take their places. The cheerleaders get up to perform at halftime, and Lester asks Carolyn if they can leave right after this. Carolyn gives him a look. The cheerleaders begin to execute a choreographed dance routine, and Carolyn awkwardly tries to clap along to the music. Suddenly, as the girls form a "V", Lester notices the girl Jane was talking to earlier, Angela Hayes, and his jaw drops. His eyes are glued to Angela as the routine progresses, and he begins imagining that she is standing alone on the court, dancing provocatively for him. She winks at him, running her hands down her body, and she starts to unzip her sweater, revealing bare skin underneath. As she takes the sweater off, a cloud of bright red rose petals flows out from beneath the cloth.

Suddenly, Lester snaps back to reality and is once again in the crowded basketball stadium, watching the cheerleaders as they hit their final pose. As the crowd claps, Lester sits motionless, his mouth still open. The game over, Jane and her friend walk out of the gym and see that Jane's parents are waiting in the parking lot. As Carolyn tells Jane how much she enjoyed the performance, Lester awkwardly introduces himself to Angela and tells her she was very "precise." A beaming Carolyn tells Jane that she "didn't screw up once!" Carolyn says they need to leave, turns, and walks away. Lester asks the girls what they're doing, and Angela says they're going out for pizza. He brightly asks if they need a ride, but Angela tells him that she has a car. He starts babbling, telling her that Jane is thinking of getting a car, but Jane cuts him off by coldly reminding him that Carolyn has already left. He smiles mawkishly and tells Angela that it was nice to meet her. Jane looks at him like he's crazy, and he finally leaves. Jane is horrified by her dad's behavior, but Angela merely comments that she thinks he and Carolyn "haven't had sex in a long time."

Analysis

In some ways, American Beauty has a fairly traditional plot structure. The first section of the film introduces the main characters and outlines their characteristics through a series of illuminating interactions. The "problem" of the film is revealed, and the audience begins to connect with the thoughts and feelings of the protagonists. At the same time, these first scenes also introduce some of the ways in which American Beauty will deviate from the traditional and the expected. First of all, the movie begins by giving away the ending: in a year's time Lester Burnham, the protagonist, will be dead. Even more unexpected is the audience's almost immediate realization that the "problem" of the film is not Lester's death, but rather his life.

The focus of the film is on a seemingly typical nuclear American family consisting of Lester, Carolyn and Jane Burnham. In only a few brief scenes, Mendes reveals that this is a family in crisis: Lester and Carolyn quietly despise each other, and Jane displays startlingly low self-esteem and a high degree of animosity towards her parents. Lester Burnham accurately and pithily sums up the character of Carolyn Burnham when he notes that the handles of her gardening shears perfectly - and intentionally - match her gardening clogs. Carolyn, it seems, is a woman determined to control the appearance of things past the point of normalcy, and who fervently believes that by doing so she effectively prevents others from noticing how imperfect her life really is. Carolyn strips down to her underwear and scrubs a house that she is trying to sell until it is spotless because she believes that doing so will cause people to look on the house through her eyes, rather than through their own more critical ones. Carolyn is wholly focused on surface appearances: she comments that her daughter must be trying to look unattractive, and in doing so ignores the possibility that Jane may be attempting to send her a signal that she is in need of love, attention, or help.

Despite his status as the film's protagonist and narrator, Lester cannot escape his identity as something of a loser. A grown man who masturbates in the shower, drops the contents of his briefcase all over the front walk, and huddles in the backseat while his wife and daughter shepherd him to work - all before 9am - can hardly be viewed as strong and masculine. However, it is Lester's failings that position him as the film's hero; it is his humanity that makes his story so poignant and deeply meaningful. Though Jane and Carolyn's pain is also apparent, it is Lester that the film focuses on, Lester who is followed from home to work and back home again. Clearly, Lester's misery is a product of his environment. Lester is a loser because Lester lives the life of a loser. The audience understands that Lester's failings are simply byproducts of his lifestyle, and thus sympathizes with this everyman hero as he combats the indignities that he must suffer each day.

At the same time, one cannot help but feel that Lester is at least somewhat deserving of his pathetic condition. While he seems unhappy about the current state of his relationship with his daughter, he must be dragged to her cheerleading performance, all the while complaining about missing a TV show. His marriage is a wreck, but Lester reacts not by working on his relationship with his wife, but by creating vivid (and deeply inappropriate) fantasies about one of his daughter's friends. Indeed, Jane's complaints about her father at the beginning of the film ("I need a father, not some horny geek-boy") seem largely supported by his actions. While Lester does not seem like a bad sort, and thus does not really deserve an unloving wife or an unsatisfying job, it is his own inability to take control of his life that stands in the way of his happiness - no one is forcing him to live as he does. Lester's humanity is what enables the audience to relate to him...and what hopefully enables them to apply the lessons that Lester learns over the course of the film to their own lives.

Summary

A red rose petal drifts through the air above Lester and Carolyn's bed. More and more begin to fall, covering Lester's face and pillow as he stares up at the ceiling. In voice-over, Lester comments that he feels as if he has just woken from a coma, and we see what is hovering in the air above him: a carpet of rose petals and the naked Angela Hayes, who is covered only by a few strategically-placed rose petals that are slowly falling away. Lester smiles, and Angela begins to move, stretching, smiling, and then slowly unfolding her hand into a gentle wave. In a car outside the Burnham house, Jane and Angela are laughing hysterically while they smoke a joint. Jane apologizes for her dad's behavior earlier, but Angela tells her that it's okay - she's used to being drooled over. She starts telling Jane about how ever since she was twelve years old, guys have stared at her, and she's always known what they're thinking about. Jane is slightly disgusted at the thought, but Angela tells her that she likes the attention. She thinks that how men react to her proves that she has a chance of becoming a model and saving herself from "ordinariness." Jane tells her she thinks that it will happen for her, and Angela confidently agrees.

The shot shifts to an exterior view of the car and becomes grainy, indicating that the boy with the camera is once again filming the Burnham family. He watches as Jane gets out of the car and walks towards the house. Suddenly Jane looks up. For a moment it looks as if nothing is there, though two bright red roses are visible in the foreground, but then the boy stands up and turns on the porch light, revealing himself. Jane calls him an asshole, but he simply raises the camera. She flicks him off and walks into the house as he continues to record her. She goes into the dining room and looks out the window. He is gone. Jane turns, and a smile slowly breaks across her face.

The next scene begins with a shot of hands flipping through a red leather daybook. The camera pans out to reveal that Lester is in Jane's room, looking up Angela Hayes' phone number while his daughter is in the shower. He picks up a portable phone and dials Angela's number, nervously glancing at the bathroom door, which is slightly ajar. Angela picks up and says hello twice. Lester opens his mouth to speak, but then the shower turns off, and he hangs up and runs from the room. Jane comes out of the bathroom in a towel and the phone rings. She picks up, and Angela asks why she called her. Jane sees the open daybook and is disgusted when she realizes what must have happened. As she explains the situation to Angela, the shot once again switches to the boy's point-of-view as he films Jane. The boy, Ricky Fitts, is standing in his room across the street, looking out the window. His mother calls out to him that it's breakfast. She is frying bacon, and when he comes downstairs he must remind her that he doesn't eat bacon. He takes some scrambled eggs and sits down. His father is reading the paper at the breakfast table, and Ricky asks him what's going on, to which he replies that the "country is going straight to hell."

The doorbell rings, and they all go silent. The father asks his wife if she's expecting someone, and she says no. Suspicious, he gets up and answers the door. The two Jims from down the block are standing on the doorstep holding a beautiful welcome basket of vegetables and fruit from their garden. The father takes the basket and formally introduces himself as Colonel Frank Fitts, U.S. Marine Core. The Colonel then rudely asks the two Jims - who have introduced themselves as "partners" - what they're selling, and when they assure him that they're just trying to be neighborly, he asks what business they're partners in. They patiently tell him that Jim B. is a tax attorney and that Jim O. is an anesthesiologist. Colonel Fitts simply stands there, aghast. As the Colonel drives Ricky to school, he laments that men like Jim and Jim can be so "shameless." Ricky comments that they don't think they should be ashamed, and his dad tells him that they should be indeed. Ricky quietly agrees with his father, but the Colonel tells him not to "placate him." Ricky looks his father straight in the eye and declares, "those fags make me want to puke my fucking guts out." The Colonel looks at him for a moment, clearly uncertain whether or not Ricky is being serious, then finally decides to take him seriously, agrees, and continues humming. The camera zooms in on Ricky's notebook, revealing a series of numbers that add up to a few thousand dollars.

The next scene begins outside the high school, where Angela is telling two other girls about a sexual encounter she had with a photographer. The two girls clearly can't decide if they are disgusted or impressed, but when Angela finishes the story, one girl comments that she's a "prostitute," and when Angela responds by making fun of her, she comments that Angela's "only been in Seventeen once" and she "looked fat," and then storms off. Angela swears at her as she walks away. Colonel Fitts pulls up, and Ricky gets out of the car. Jane points him out and tells Angela that he's the guy who filmed her. Angela warns her that he's crazy. In ninth grade, she says, he would say really strange things, and then he ended up in a mental institution. Jane wants to know what he did, and Angela starts to tease her, loudly insisting that Jane has a crush on Ricky. They're interrupted when Ricky approaches Jane to introduce himself as her new neighbor. She reminds him that she saw him filming her last night, and he apologizes, commenting that he just finds her "interesting." She rebuffs him, but he coolly replies that he's "just curious," then walks past them into school. Angela calls him a freak, but Jane is clearly impressed by his striking confidence. Angela points out that there must be something wrong with him: he didn't look at her once.

That night, Colonel Fitts and his wife sit in their living room watching a black-and-white army film on television. They watch in silence that is only broken when Colonel Fitts laughs loudly at a joke. The front door opens, and Ricky comes in and sits down on the couch. Out of nowhere, Barbara says, "I'm sorry, what?" Ricky gently tells her that no one said anything, and she apologizes. The three of them sit together silently.

Carolyn and Lester are walking into a party, arguing. Lester is complaining about having to come along, saying that she always ignores him anyway, and Carolyn defends herself, insisting that this is an important part of her job and that he can't make her feel guilty for this. She asks him to please try to look happy, and he sarcastically tells her that he is happy. Right when they enter the party, she spots Buddy across the room and hurries to greet him. He calls her Katherine accidentally, but she laughs off the mistake. Lester comments that he and Buddy have already met, but that he wouldn't remember himself either. The others laugh awkwardly, and Carolyn tensely asks him not to be so "weird." He smiles and tells her he won't be, then pulls her into a long embrace as Buddy and his wife Christie look on awkwardly. When he finally lets go, she looks stunned and a little irritated. Lester goes to get a drink, and Carolyn tries to laugh the incident off. Lester sits at the bar as Carolyn hobnobs with the agents.

Suddenly, Ricky approaches in a waiter's uniform, carrying a tray of champagne. He recognizes Lester and introduces himself. After a moment he asks Lester if he gets high, and Lester visibly perks up. Carolyn is sitting at a table with Buddy, drunkenly confessing how much she admires him. She asks him if she could "pick [his] brain" sometime, to which he replies, "I'd love to." She's surprised, but clearly happy. Outside in the parking lot, Lester and Ricky are smoking pot and laughing. Suddenly, the door opens and a man in a suit emerges to tell Ricky that he's not paying him for this. Ricky tells him that it's fine, because he quits, and the man slams the door. Lester tells Ricky that he has just become his "personal hero" and asks him how he can quit just like that. Ricky explains that he just uses these jobs as a cover for his real source of income, indicating the joint as he passes it to Lester. Suddenly, Carolyn loudly calls Lester's name and steps out into the parking lot. Lester starts to laugh as he introduces Ricky, but Ricky keeps his cool, explaining that he lives next door and goes to school with Jane. Lester is surprised to hear this. Carolyn tells Lester that she's ready to leave and that she'll be waiting in front. Lester continues to laugh, telling Ricky that he's "in trouble." As he leaves, Ricky tells him to let him know if he wants any more pot.

Analysis

In the next section of the film, Lester's character continues to develop in positive - although undeniably complex - ways. Again the audience must deal with the fact that Lester is having graphic fantasies about a fifteen-year-old girl. On the other hand, though, Lester's fantasies are barely pornographic. They are beautiful, romantic...even innocent. Lester isn't really fantasizing about having sex with Angela; he is fantasizing about opening himself up to the loving, sexual feelings that he has been repressing for so long. Lester's actual fantasies contrast strikingly with the fantasies that Angela imagines men have about her. Angela tells Jane that she knows men fantasize about having sex with her; interestingly, however, the one man whose fantasies we are privy to imagines only watching her laying in a bed of rose petals. Jane finds Angela's assessment of men's fantasies disturbing largely because Angela seems to enjoy the fact that she is viewed as a pornographic object. Although Angela puts on a remarkable bravado, her true insecurity is revealed by her estimation of how the men around her view her.

Jane and Angela offer two very different perspectives on the issue of desirability. Indeed, they are so very different that it is often difficult to see what binds them together in friendship. Angela takes her desirability as a given and uses her experiences to justify her beliefs. At the same time, however, Angela's definition of "desire" is limited and degrading. Jane clearly doubts her own desirability, and thus takes extreme pleasure in Ricky's bizarre signals that he finds her desirable. Though Jane clearly suffers from a serious lack of self-confidence, her willingness to reveal her insecurities makes them, in some ways, less profound than Angela's. It is difficult, for example, to imagine Jane getting pleasure out of someone's father awkwardly flirting with her; Angela, however, takes pride in Lester's interest because any signal that a male finds her attractive bolsters her flailing self-esteem. At the same time, Jane is tremendously hurt by her father's interest in Angela because it validates Angela's worldview - that she is attractive, and that Jane is not. Similarly, Angela views Ricky as dangerous because he threatens her worldview by finding Jane more attractive than her.

The most significant aspect of this section of the film is the introduction of the Fitts family. Even though they live on the same safe, suburban street, the Burnham and Fitts families are enormously dissimilar. The Burnhams are a perfectly typical American family (the point being, of course, that behind closed doors there is no such thing as a "normal" family). The Fitts family, however, is clearly abnormal - the wife is seriously damaged, the father is angry and bitter, and the son is a drug dealer doing whatever he can to survive in his dangerous environment. There is serious tension in the Fitts house, but despite the fact that their problems seem more profound, their issues do not seem to invalidate the Burnhams'. In fact, an interesting question to consider is who will be more damaged by his or her childhood: Ricky, or Jane.

Already Ricky seems to be the more resilient of the two, and his role in the film is clarified when he meets Lester at Carolyn's party. Once again, Lester is being dragged somewhere he doesn't want to go. At this point, Lester is beginning to sound like a petulant child: he doesn't want to go to his daughter's performance, he doesn't want to go to his wife's party...he doesn't want to sacrifice a single more moment of his life to the needs of people who don't appreciate him. When Lester embarrasses his wife in front of her idol, Buddy Kane, the audience experiences a moment of sympathy for this embittered woman, but it soon becomes clear that Carolyn doesn't really rely on Lester for support - she only uses him as a punching bag. She falls all over Buddy Kane even though he gets her name wrong and can't remember ever having met Lester even though they've been introduced several times. Lester mocks Carolyn's claim that she's only asking him to be a supportive spouse when he kisses her. Lester is supposed to "support" her, but he isn't allowed to touch her. Touching - showing love - is what's inappropriate. Going outside to smoke with Ricky is the first time in the film that Lester makes a decision to actively pursue happiness on his own terms. Rather than moping in the corner, he makes a proactive gesture. Ricky plays the role of the outsider, offering perspective and wisdom. When Ricky quits his job, Lester tells him that he just became his "personal hero." Clearly, Lester deeply admires anyone who acts out of desire rather than obligation. Ricky shows Lester that there is always a choice: when someone tells you that you have to do something, it is still up to you whether or not you exercise your option to disobey them.

Summary

Jane and Angela are watching television when they hear Jane's parents return. Jane tries to go upstairs without being spotted, but Angela insists on saying hi to Jane's dad. Lester is getting something out of the fridge when Angela surprises him in the kitchen and starts to flirt with him. She reaches out as if to take a root beer, and Lester watches her arm move towards him. The movement slows down, becoming dreamlike, and repeats several times. Finally, when Angela touches his shoulder, Lester takes her face in his hands and kisses her. They kiss passionately for a moment, until Lester draws back. He takes a red rose petal out of his mouth, and the camera pulls back, revealing Angela and Jane standing across the room, Angela drinking a root beer from the bottle. Carolyn comes in, clearly drunk. Jane tells her mom that Angela is going to spend the night, and Lester, taken by surprise, spits his soda into the sink. The women all stare at him as though he has gone mad.

Upstairs, Jane and Angela are talking in Jane's room while Lester listens at the door. Jane apologizes for her dad's behavior, but Angela comments that he's cute, and that he would "be hot" if he worked out. She also calls Carolyn a "phony." Angela starts taunting Jane with the idea of having sex with her dad, and Jane covers her ears and sings to shut her out. Suddenly, Angela hears a noise and stops. Lester, thinking that the girls have heard him at the door, bolts down the hallway. However, it seems that Jane and Angela have heard something from outside the window. The girls realize that someone is throwing sticks at the window, and when they go to look they see that Jane's name is spelled out on the lawn in flames. Angela insists that it must have been Ricky, and starts declaring that Ricky is obsessed with Jane. Jane comments that he's probably filming them, and Angela starts to pose in front of the window. The shot pulls back to show Ricky's point-of-view as he films the girls. Angela blows kisses at him and poses provocatively, but he ignores her and zooms in on the reflection of Jane's face in a small mirror. She is smiling.

Ricky stands alone in the dark in his room. He lowers the camera, looking pleased. He hears a noise, and looks down into the Burnhams' garage. Lester is searching for something on the shelves: a pair of hand weights. He begins to do arm curls, pacing back and forth in the garage. Within moments, Lester notices his reflection in the window and turns to face it. He takes off his shirt, his pants, and his underwear and stands naked in front of the window. He looks at his stomach for a second, and then picks up the weights and begins the arm curls once more, this time with a decidedly determined air about him. Ricky, who is still filming, says to himself, "welcome to America's weirdest home videos." He zooms in on Lester's face. The spell is broken when Ricky's father knocks on the locked door. When Ricky goes to let him in, the camera reveals shelves full of labeled black cassette tapes and an impressive-looking television. Ricky apologizes to his father for having locked the door. Ricky's father asks him for a urine sample, and Ricky asks if he can give it to him in the morning, since he has just urinated. The Colonel starts to tell him something, then stops and simply says goodnight. After his father leaves, Ricky goes to a small fridge, takes out a urine sample, and places it on top of the fridge to warm up.

Lester is lying in bed, still awake. He gets up and walks out of the bedroom. He opens a door to a room filled with steam. Inside the room, Lester sees Angela reclining in a large bathtub. She says she's been waiting for him, and when he walks closer he sees that the bathtub is filled with rose petals. Angela asks Lester if he's been working out, and she tells him that she needs a bath, because she's very dirty. Lester starts to reach into the tub, slowly, slowly...and then suddenly the scene reverts to the Burnhams' bedroom, where Lester is lying in bed, masturbating. Carolyn wakes up and accuses him of masturbating. He denies it at first, but then angrily starts listing euphemisms for masturbation. Carolyn tells him that he's disgusting, but he shoots back, "at least I still have blood pumping though my veins." Carolyn gets out of bed, turns on the light, and shouts at him. Lester tells her that since she's not going to help him out, he's going to masturbate when he feels like it. She says she's "sexually frustrated" too, and he suggests they have sex right then and there. She threatens to divorce him, and he asks her on what grounds. He then suggests that if they did get divorced, it is her who would have to pay him alimony. Having thus silenced Carolyn, Lester rolls over and smiles.

The next shot is a repeat of the shot seen at the beginning of the film: the camera zooms high over the neighborhood while Lester narrates in voice-over. He talks about surprising himself, and we zoom in to find Lester joining the two Jims on their daily run. They ask him why he's working out, and he tells them that he "want[s] to look good naked." As they approach Ricky's house, Colonel Fitts comments that it's like the "gay pride parade." An extremely sweaty Lester stops to say hi to Ricky and introduces himself to the Colonel. When the Colonel introduces himself using his full title Lester jokingly salutes, then turns to Ricky and asks him about the "film" they were discussing. Ricky tells him to come upstairs and he'll get it for him.

In Ricky's room, Lester asks about the urine, and Ricky explains that he has to take a drug test every six months, and that he gets clean urine from one of his clients - a nurse in a pediatrician's office. Ricky removes his supply from its hiding place in a drawer while Lester looks at his music collection. Ricky offers him a large bag of pot for three hundred dollars, but also shows him a much smaller bag of something called "G-13", which he says is genetically modified by the U.S. government and is the only thing he ever smokes. Lester reaches for the smaller bag, but is startled when Ricky tells him that it's two thousand dollars. Lester decides to take it anyway, but tells Ricky he'll have to pay him later. Ricky tells him that he's good for it, and that there's a card in the bag with his beeper number. Lester says that when he was Ricky's age, he flipped burgers to save enough money to buy an eight-track: it was, he recalls, pretty great - all he did was "party and get laid." Ricky tells him that his father thinks he pays for all of his expensive equipment with catering jobs.

Carolyn, humming, goes into the front yard to pick some roses. She stops and starts to sniff the air. She looks in the garage: Pink Floyd is playing, and Lester is lying on a weight bench smoking a joint and doing bench presses. Carolyn sarcastically says how wonderful it is that he's smoking pot now, to which Lester calmly responds that Carolyn is a "bloodless, moneygrubbing freak." Standing over him, Carolyn continues to berate him, but Lester calmly tells her to either spot him or leave.

Analysis

Throughout the greater part of the film, Angela attempts to control the narrative of her and Jane's friendship so that the focus remains on her. She generally achieves this by talking about sex, because she supposedly has far more experience in this arena than Jane does. In this part of the movie, Angela begins using Jane's father as a tool with which to railroad the conversation. However, Angela is unable to control this narrative as she has controlled past interactions because Ricky refuses to allow her to direct the flow of conversation: when he is around, the focus is on Jane. While Ricky's displays of affection may appear to mock the stereotype of the obsessive teenager who has no idea how to appropriately communicate his feelings about a girl, his gestures are nevertheless genuinely moving precisely because they are so overblown. They dramatically call attention to Jane, and draw the focus away from Angela (a naturally more dramatic personality). Angela literally comments that something is "wrong" with Ricky because he doesn't seem interested in her.

The conflict between Jane and Angela speaks to one possible interpretation of the film's title. While the assumption may be that American Beauty is a reference to Angela Hayes, the stereotypical ideal of a beautiful America girl, it is possible that Ball intended the true "beauty" to be Jane. Jane struggles to define herself within the narrow parameters of conventional beauty, but it is clear that Ricky, at least, views Jane as far more attractive - both inside and out - than her more typically fetching friend. American Beauty suggests a wider definition of beauty: a paper bag blowing in the wind is just as beautiful - if not more so - than a traditional work of art.

Two distinct worldviews are present in this narrative: Jane's, and Angela's. Lester continues to support Angela's perspective (that she is an intensely desirable woman), while Ricky strives to help Jane develop a stronger sense of self. Lester is focused wholly on the burgeoning "relationship" between himself and Angela. For example, when Lester hears Angela stop laughing because she has heard a noise, he assumes that it is him she has heard. He is following the narrative of a potential relationship between himself and Angela, and fails to consider the possibility that the noise might have nothing to do with him. This misplaced focus causes him to overlook Jane's narrative - ostensibly the narrative that he should be following, as Jane is his daughter while Angela has no real place in his life as of yet. Lester's frantic dash down the stairs is one of the best moments of physical comedy in the film. Lester's obtuseness is underscored by his surprise when he learns that Ricky knows Jane, even though a moment's consideration might have led him to realize that Ricky most likely attends the same school as his daughter. Once again, Lester's self-interest leads him to see Ricky only as he relates to himself, rather than as someone with his own personal interests and relationships.

Lester's self-obsession has both positive and negative ramifications for his personal development. Only by focusing on himself is he able to break free from his tendency to behave in accordance with how others see him. He begins to recognize his worth as something disconnected from his job or his car or the way his wife thinks of him. At the same time, however, this self-obsession leads to inappropriate behavior: fantasies about fifteen-year-old girls, pot-smoking, and naked weightlifting in his garage, to name a few. Although it might seem that American Beauty is endorsing Lester's decision to focus wholly on himself, the issue is far more complex: ultimately, Lester must learn that the beauty in life is in living in the best possible way, in balancing self-love with love for others.

Ricky is perhaps the best example of a character that achieves this balance. Ricky possesses many of the traits Lester strives for - he is, after all, Lester's "personal hero" - but his freedom and confidence do not come from his focus on himself, but rather from his amazing awareness of the world around him. Ricky even notices Jane, who strives so hard not to be noticed. He sees Lester sitting at the bar and is instantly aware that he is looking at a man in pain. Lester is completely oblivious to Ricky's problems, while Ricky has room - even in his unquestionably difficult situation - to take on the burdens of others. At the same time, Ricky is not idealized as a figure of moral or spiritual perfection. Ricky's freedom is not limitless: he purchases it with deception, though he is perfectly straightforward about his lifestyle outside of the limited circle of his immediate family. In fact, his deception is so transparent to anyone besides his loopy mother and embittered father that it becomes more of a device than a reality. He can practice deceptiveness unevenly, keeping drugs hidden in drawers but storing urine samples in an open refrigerator, precisely because his family only sees what they want to see.

As Lester slowly takes steps towards assuming responsibility for his own life, he retains his honesty, no matter how troublesome this honesty may be to others. He and Carolyn begin to fight more and more violently, but at the same time, his newfound straightforwardness raises the possibility of an emotional reunion. Lester tries to confront Carolyn with the truth about herself, but she is unwilling to acknowledge that he might be right. Lester is protected from Carolyn's anger not because he is doing nothing wrong, but because he is being completely honest with himself about his actions.

Summary

Back in Brad's office, Brad is reading Lester's job description aloud: Lester, it seems, has written a vitriolic, sarcastic, and all-too-honest account of his duties as an employee. When Brad summarily fires Lester, Lester promptly blackmails the company. When his efforts don't appear to be working, Lester tells Brad that he'll throw in a sexual harassment charge against him. Having emerged the victor in yet another conflict, Lester walks out of the office carrying a box filled with his things and raising a fist in victory.

Carolyn sits in an expensive-looking restaurant, and Buddy walks in to meet her, apologizing for being late. He tells her that his wife has just left him - she departed for New York that morning. He confides that Christie thought he was too devoted to his career and Carolyn looks shocked, then sympathetic: they always looked like such a perfect couple. Buddy tells Carolyn that according to his philosophy, "one must project an image of success at all times."

The next scene opens with a grainy image of a dead bird - Ricky is filming once again. An unseen person asks him what he's doing, and he raises his camera to reveal Jane and Angela. He tells them that he was filming the bird "because it's beautiful." Angela makes a face and tells him he forgot his medication. He zooms in closer on Jane and says hello to her. She asks him to stop filming her, and he lowers the camera. Angela stalks off as Jane asks Ricky if he needs a ride, but Ricky tells her that he's happy to walk. Jane says that she'll walk, too.

The scene then shifts to a parking lot outside a motel. From outside one of the rooms, we can hear the sound of loud moans. Inside, Buddy and Carolyn are having enthusiastic sex with repeated references to Buddy's status as the "king". Inside his car, Lester is happily singing along with the music and smoking a joint. He pulls into a drive-through, where he is asked if he wants to try a special. He orders, then drives up to the window. He notices a Help Wanted sign in the window and asks for an application, saying he's "looking for the least possible amount of responsibility." Inside, a confused manager interviews Lester, saying that he has far too much experience for the job, but Lester is insistent. Back in the motel room, Carolyn and Buddy are lying on the bed. Carolyn woozily thanks Buddy, telling him that she's been "so stressed out." Buddy tells her that when he's stressed out, he fires a gun. He suggests that Carolyn try it, and they begin to kiss again.

On the walk home, Jane asks Ricky how he likes his new house. She tells Ricky about how her mother cut down their previous neighbor's tree. They see a funeral procession pass, and Ricky asks Jane if she's ever known anyone who died. She hasn't, and neither has he, but he tells her about a dead homeless woman he once saw. They watch the cars pass. He tells her that he taped the woman "because it was amazing." He tells Jane that seeing someone who has died is "like God is looking right at you, just for a second. And if you're careful you can look back." He tells her you see "beauty."

They go inside Ricky's house to find his mother sitting at the table and staring into space. Ricky attempts to introduce her to Jane, but she continues to stare off into the distance. He puts his hand on her shoulder, and she smiles at him, then seems to focus. She apologizes for the house, and Jane looks around, confused: the house is spotless. Ricky takes her into his dad's office, where she notices a cabinet full of guns. He says that he wants to show her something and goes to unlock a cabinet, commenting that his dad would kill him if he knew about this. He has keys to everything, because one of his clients is a locksmith, and once he let him pay him by making keys to everything in the house. Ricky takes a plate out of the cabinet and shows it to Jane. She turns it over to see a swastika. He tells her that it's "official state china of the Third Reich." Jane stares at him blankly. Ricky asks her what's wrong, and if she's scared of him. She tells him she's not, and he says that next he wants to show her "the most beautiful thing" he's ever filmed.

They sit in front of Ricky's television, watching a film of a plastic bag blowing around with the leaves in front of a brick wall. The bag dances this way and that, seeming to take on a life of its own. Ricky explains that the day he filmed the bag was the day he "realized that there was this entire life behind things...and that there was no reason to be afraid...ever." Jane just watches and listens. Finally, she turns and looks at Ricky. "Sometimes," says Ricky with tears in his eyes, "there is so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in." Jane reaches out and takes his hand in both of hers. He looks down at it, then looks at her. She leans in and kisses him. When she pulls away, she smiles, then suddenly asks what time it is.

Analysis

Much of the humor in American Beauty comes from playing with traditional ideas of "American-ness". One of the dominant stereotypes of American culture is that Americans are obsessed with work and don't know how to enjoy life. At the advertising agency, Lester certainly fulfilled this stereotype. Every day, he became bitterer and more apathetic. When Lester quits his job, the audience cannot help but cheer for him despite the act's overt irresponsibility. By quitting his job, Lester takes on the role of the "little guy" standing up to corrupt Corporate America. Even Lester's threat of bringing a sexual harassment charge against Brad seems perfectly justifiable in light of Brad's smug, condescending attitude.

Lester's move becomes even more humorous when he decides to seek employment at a fast-food chain (yet another iconographic symbol of American homogenization). Lester seems to be constantly taking two steps forward and one step back. He is so out of touch with his true desires that he must start from the beginning, from the last time he can remember enjoying life: with Ricky, he recalls how happy he was when he was doing nothing but flipping burgers and partying, and now seeks to recapture that sense of unfettered joy. In order to arrive at his true adult persona, Lester must first recapture a youthful appreciation of the world around him.

Meanwhile, Carolyn has also begun to make extreme choices in an effort to break free from the monotonous misery of her life. When Carolyn meets Buddy Kane for lunch, she is not yet doing anything overtly "wrong". She finds nothing humiliating about admitting to Buddy that she thinks that he is far superior to her on a professional level. Only when Buddy tells her that his wife has just left him and that his appearance of perfection is an act does Carolyn see any possibility of a relationship between them: her self-esteem is so low that she can only relate to Buddy as an equal once she has learned of his flaws. One might wonder why Carolyn, who clearly values the appearance of perfection above all things, would be more attracted to Buddy Kane after he reveals his imperfections. First, Buddy Kane reveals his problems in such a mature, impeccable manner that Carolyn cannot help but be in awe of his comportment even in the face of adversity (witness her own, decidedly different, responses to marital strife). Even in the face of tragedy and humiliation, Buddy Kane acts like a gentleman. Second, in revealing that he values the appearance of perfection rather than perfection itself, Buddy validates Carolyn's belief that acting like nothing is wrong is just as good as having nothing wrong.

The theory of beauty introduced by Ricky is the moral and aesthetic opposite of Buddy Kane and Carolyn Burnham's philosophy on life. Ricky finds beauty in human weakness, in naked reality. He sees more value in that which is hidden - like Jane's smile - than that which is displayed for everyone to see - like Angela Hayes' painted-on face. Ricky tells Jane that the simplicity of death is like seeing God made corporeal. The sight of a dead bird or a plastic bag makes him feel that the world is a beautiful, wonderful place. Indeed, the world itself is rendered more beautiful when seen through Ricky's eyes: one can imagine that even if Ricky witnessed one of Lester and Carolyn's horrible, bitter fights, he would see it for what it was: two lonely, frightened people in search of solace, both desperate to prevent their partner from knowing just how lonely and frightened they really are.

Summary

Carolyn and Lester are eating dinner as usual, though Lester eats with much more gusto than we saw earlier. Jane walks in and apologizes for being late. Carolyn, speaking in an almost hysterically upbeat tone, suggests that Lester tell Jane about his day at work. He cheerily tells his daughter that today he quit and blackmailed his boss for almost sixty thousand dollars. Lester and Carolyn then begin to fight viciously, Lester greeting Carolyn's belittling statements with sarcasm and vitriol of his own. Carolyn keeps trying to stress Lester's irresponsibility while Lester asks her repeatedly to pass the asparagus, commenting in between requests that he already has another job. When Jane tries to leave, Lester shouts at her to "sit down!" Shocked at this new side of her father, Jane sits, and both Jane and Carolyn stare at Lester. Lester then gets up, walks to the other end of the table, picks up the asparagus platter, and returns to his seat. He calmly and clearly states, "I'm sick and tired of being treated like I don't exist." When Carolyn interrupts him and continues to rant, Lester stands up, smiles, and throws the asparagus platter against the wall. This dramatic act has the intended effect: Carolyn shuts up. Lester pleasantly tells Carolyn not to interrupt him, and then sits down and continues to eat his dinner. After a pause, he tells Carolyn that they're going to start alternating their dinner music.

Later, in her room, Jane sits silently. Someone knocks, and she tells them to go away. Her mother asks her to let her in, and Jane gets up and opens the door. Tearing up, Carolyn apologizes for the scene at the table, and Jane calls both her parents freaks. Carolyn starts to cry, and Jane relents a little. Carolyn starts to tell Jane that the "most important lesson in life" is that "you cannot count on anyone except yourself." Jane responds sarcastically and Carolyn slaps her, accusing her of being ungrateful. Jane just looks at Carolyn, who turns and storms out of the room. Jane then looks in the mirror and touches her cheek where her mother hit her. She turns to the window and walks towards it. Ricky is standing there with his camera. He waves. Jane glances around the room. She takes off her long-sleeved flannel shirt, and then her t-shirt, until she is standing in front of the window in her bra. She lets down her hair, and then slides off her bra. Ricky zooms in on her face.

Suddenly Ricky's door bursts open and Colonel Fitts storms in, shouting about Ricky having "gotten in" somewhere. Ricky tries to cover the window as Jane pulls the curtain over herself, and Colonel Fitts begins to hit Ricky with his fists, all the while shouting at him to get up and fight back. The Colonel kicks the camera away, and Ricky tells him he won't fight him, and that he picked the lock. The Colonel wants to know what he was looking for, and Ricky tells him that he just wanted to "show my girlfriend your Nazi plate." At that, the Colonel stops and listens as Ricky, blood dripping down his face, tells him about Jane. The Colonel sits in a chair, gasping for breath. He says that the beating was for Ricky's own good, because he has "no respect." Ricky agrees and apologizes, asking his father not to "give up" on him. Finally the Colonel tells him to stay out of that room and turns to leave. Ricky pulls himself up with some effort. He goes to the mirror and looks at himself, dabbing at his eye.

Carolyn stands in a shooting range, shooting a gun directly at the camera. The shot swings wide, revealing a man standing behind her. The man - presumably an instructor - comments that she's a natural, and she tells him that she "loves shooting this gun." In the car on the way home, Carolyn sings along loudly to Frank Sinatra's "Don't rain on my parade." A handgun sits on the passenger seat. She waves happily at one of Buddy's billboards as she passes by. Just as Carolyn is about to pull into the driveway, however, she is silenced by the sight of a red 1970 Pontiac Firebird. She goes inside, furious, and a tiny remote-controlled car zooms in front of her, blocking her way.

Lester is sitting on a chair, his feet up on the coffee table. She asks him whose car is out there, and he tells her that it's his - it's the car he's always wanted. She asks where the Camry is and he tells her he traded it in. She starts to continue their argument, but he cuts her off, telling her she looks great. She sits and asks where Jane is. He tells her that she's not home, and goes to sit next to Carolyn on the couch. Suddenly, in a softer tone than he's ever used with her before, he asks her when she "became so joyless." With a teasing undercurrent to her voice, she tells him that "there's plenty of joy in my life." Lester asks her what happened to the girl she used to be, reminding her of the crazy things she used to do. He starts to kiss her neck, and she moans softly. She begins to lean into him, but then suddenly notices that he's holding a beer bottle and comments that he's going to "spill beer on the couch." He gets up, the mood killed, and tells her it's "just a couch!" She tries to justify herself by emphasizing how expensive it was, but he shouts again that "it's just a couch," slamming a pillow into it repeatedly. He unleashes a torrent of words at her, trying to get her to see that this "stuff" is not more important than life. Carolyn runs upstairs, looking like she's about to cry.

Ricky is taping Jane as she lies reclining on a bed. Jane tells Ricky to stop, but he doesn't. She tells him that it's weird watching herself, and the camera zooms out, revealing that they are in Ricky's room, and that Jane can see the shot of herself on his television. She sits up, takes the camera and turns it on Ricky, who is standing shirtless in front of her. She asks, "you don't feel naked?" and he smiles and replies that he is naked. She asks him about being the hospital, and he tells her that when he was fifteen, his dad caught him smoking pot and sent him to military school. He got kicked out, they had a fight, and his dad hit him. The next day he got into a fight with a kid at school and Ricky admits that he would have killed him if no one had stopped him. Then his dad put him in the hospital, where he stayed for two years.

Jane comments that Ricky must really hate his father, but Ricky tells her that "he's not a bad man." Jane comments that she would hate her dad if he did something like that to her, but then remembers that she already hates him. Ricky takes a puff off of a joint, then stands up and takes the camera, turning it on Jane and asking her why. Jane tells her about her dad's crush on Angela, then admits that she wishes she were as important to him as Angela is. Jane tells Ricky that her father is "doing massive psychological damage" to her, but doesn't elaborate. Then, becoming more serious, she tells him that she "needs a father who's a role model." Suddenly, we realize that this is the scene with which the movie began. Ricky asks Jane if she wants him to kill her father for her, and she looks straight into the camera and says that she does. She reveals that she has three thousand dollars she was saving for a "boob job." Ricky starts zooming in and out on Jane's breasts, and they both laugh. Ricky comments that hiring someone to kill your father isn't very nice, to which she replies that she's "not a very nice girl." The camera zooms in on Jane's eyes, and then Ricky turns it off. Jane says, "You know I'm not serious, right?" Ricky says that he does. They lay down on the bed, and Ricky strokes her cheek, commenting on how lucky they are.

Analysis

Lester recognizes that his relationship with his daughter is problematic for two major reasons: his life (until recently, at least) was boring, and he didn't expect her to be interested in it. Now, however, his circumstances have changed. He is starting to understand that he and he alone is responsible for his life. He also realizes that he needs to ask for what he wants. It is unclear whether he is making progress with Jane or Carolyn, but he is certainly making progress with himself. Interestingly, in attempting to reclaim his identity, Lester must first recapture his masculinity, reclaiming at least part of his traditional gender role. As he regains control of his life, he also seems prone to stereotyping those around him: Carolyn as a bad mother, and Jane as a disrespectful child.

Carolyn, however, is no female stereotype. Indeed, her problems are fairly distinct from her identity as a woman. She tells Jane that you cannot count on anyone but yourself, but then slaps her when Jane responds that Carolyn can't count on her, and that Jane already knows that she can't count on Carolyn. Jane also defies stereotype, particularly when she - a decidedly timid girl - removes her clothing for Ricky. Jane is explicitly showing Ricky that she, unlike her mother, believes that there are people in the world who you can count on. The gesture is all the more poignant because of Jane's extreme vulnerability about her appearance.

This scene contains some of the most visually arresting camera work in the film. As Jane takes off her clothes, the audience sees her through the window, and also on the screen behind Ricky. This double-view offers several layers of insight. First of all, it allows the reader to see Jane's actions and Ricky's reactions at the same time. Second of all, it emphasizes the feeling of inevitability that pervades the film. Once an action has been committed, it cannot be taken back. It has been immortalized on film and in the memories of those who witnessed it. When Jane objects to Ricky taping her as she speaks to him, she objects not to his taping her per se, but rather to the fact that she can see herself on the monitor. Ricky doesn't mind, because as a filmmaker he understands that we are observed all of the time, whether we know it or not. At the same time, he understands that there is a difference between an idea that is expressed and an idea that is acted upon. Just because he tapes Jane saying that she wants him to kill her father, that doesn't mean that she actually wants him to kill Lester, or even that she hates him. Saying something aloud doesn't necessarily make it true.

When Ricky's father comes into the room, he disrupts Ricky and Jane in their first erotic exchange. The camera is knocked out of Ricky's hand, and he loses control of the narrative. When his father is there, Ricky is not the dispassionate, wise observer. In this interaction, Ricky is more truthful with his father than usual. He tells him about Jane, and about showing her the Nazi plate. While this honesty certainly seems effective, Ricky doesn't appear to impart the information solely to get the Colonel to stop hitting him. One might imagine how happy he is to be able to tell the truth for once; this time, at least, the truth is innocent. When Ricky says to his father, "don't give up on me, sir," he continues to feed his father what he wants to hear. At the same time, however, Ricky almost seems to be saying, "I won't give up on you," thereby conveying to his father that no matter what he does, Ricky will never stop loving him. It is this, in fact, that stops the Colonel in his tracks: he realizes what his son is truly saying to him, and is struck by at least a flicker of guilt.

The contrast between the scene in Ricky's room and the next scene, which depicts Carolyn at the shooting range, is striking. Mendes revels in the contrast between the film's darker and lighter elements, walking the thin line between the disturbing and the humorous. Carolyn's violence is harmless while the Colonel's is not, but the two characters are connected by the release they get from having power over others. The ensuing scene between Lester and Carolyn carefully treads the line between amusing and devastating. Mendes treats Carolyn's refusal of Lester's advances lightly, but her rejection of him is truly one of the most tragic moments in the film. Carolyn chooses her couch over her husband, and in doing so puts their relationship at the point of no return.

Summary

Once again, the camera zooms over the neighborhood while Lester speaks in voice-over. This time, he reminds the audience of "those posters that say 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life.'" He comments that that's true every day, except for the day that you die. On this morning, Lester leaves his house in running clothes and jogs briskly down the street. He looks much slimmer, and as he sprints down the street he barely breaks a sweat. Back in his kitchen, Lester blends a smoothie and whistles as Jane looks on, glaring at him. Carolyn comes in, telling Jane to hurry up. Jane asks if Angela can sleep over that night, and Carolyn says of course. Lester drinks his breakfast straight from the pitcher. After Carolyn leaves the room, Jane tells Lester that she's been "too embarrassed" by his behavior to have Angela over. Lester laughs and asks what she's talking about. Jane shouts that he stares at Angela and that it's disgusting, and finally Lester yells at her, "You're going to turn into a real bitch, just like your mother!"

Jane leaves the room, and Lester curses at himself. In his room, Ricky brushes his hair. His dad looks in on him, and Ricky tells him that he's going to ride to school with Jane and Carolyn. Ricky walks out of the house, his dad following slowly behind him. As Ricky gets into Carolyn's car, Lester walks out and says hello to him. Failing to notice that Colonel Fitts is watching, he mimes at Ricky to call him. Colonel Fitts then goes upstairs to Ricky's room and begins to search it methodically. He turns on Ricky's camera and sees a tape of his wife sitting at the table, not moving or speaking. He takes out the tape and puts in another: it is the tape Ricky recorded earlier of Lester standing naked at his garage window, doing arm curls. Colonel Fitts takes off his glasses and sits down on the bed, clearly aghast.

Lester is working at the fast-food joint, cheerily flipping burgers. He hears the voices of some customers over the intercom, and realizes that one of them belongs to Carolyn. In the car, Carolyn teases Buddy about how they earned this food with their "work-out." He leans over and kisses her neck just as they pull up to the window, where Lester is standing beside the checkout girl. Lester says brightly, "Smile, you're at Mr. Smiley's!" Carolyn falters, but tries to pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary. Lester, however, comments that he's pretty sure that this time Buddy will remember meeting him. The checkout girl makes a snide comment at Buddy and Carolyn's expense, but when Carolyn responds angrily Lester points out that she's the manager, and that Carolyn is "technically...on her turf." Carolyn, seeing that Lester doesn't appear at all upset, tries to get him to drop the facade and yell at her, but Lester only responds, "you never get to tell me what to do ever again."

Later, still in the car, Carolyn begins to cry. Buddy tells her that they need to stop for a while, because he's already dealing with a problematic divorce. Carolyn agrees, quoting his "philosophy", but when Buddy gets out of the car and drives away, she begins to cry and then to shriek at the top of her lungs. The scene transitions to Lester, who is shirtless, lifting weights in his basement. He looks at his toned and muscular reflection in the window. It is pouring outside. He reaches down for a box, opens it, and takes out an empty plastic bag: he is out of pot. Ricky, at the dinner table, hears his beeper go off. His parents stare at him, but he calmly tells them that he needs to return Jane's geometry book to her.

Angela and Jane are driving through the rain. Angela tries to get Jane to give her all the gory details about her relationship with Ricky, but Jane refuses to tell her anything, and even criticizes Angela for sharing too many of the details of her own sex life. Meanwhile, Colonel Fitts peers outside the window at Ricky and Lester, who are in the garage. Lester has convinced Ricky to stay and smoke with him, but from the Colonel's perspective it appears that Ricky is performing oral sex on Lester. The Colonel watches as the two men quickly separate the second a car pulls up. Angela and Jane get out of the car and rush inside, only to find Lester in the kitchen. Angela provocatively asks Lester if he's been working out. Jane leaves the room in a huff, and Angela approaches Lester and touches his arm. He flirts back, but she instantly disengages, seeming nervous, and goes to find Jane.

In his room, Ricky goes to put the money Lester gave him in a leather bag. Suddenly the Colonel's voice, off screen, asks him where he got it. The Colonel is sitting in a dark corner of the room. Ricky says that the money is from his job, but the Colonel doesn't believe him. Ricky realizes what his dad thinks - that he has been prostituting himself - and starts to laugh, but the Colonel punches him and tells him that he'll throw him out on the street, because he'd rather Ricky were dead than a "fucking faggot." Quietly enraged, Ricky starts baiting his father, telling him that he "sucks dick for money." He taunts the Colonel until the older man threatens to hit him. The Colonel's fist wavers in the air as he tells his son to get out of his house. Ricky is on the edge of tears, as is the Colonel. Ricky turns, picks up his bag, and walks out of the room. He goes downstairs to see his mother standing there, staring into space and holding a plate. He gently tells her that he's leaving. She responds that he should "wear a raincoat." He apologizes to her, then kisses her on the cheek. She nods as if she understands. When he pulls away, she keeps her eyes closed. The Colonel watches from upstairs as Ricky walks away.

Outside somewhere, Carolyn sits in her car in the rain, listening to a self-help tape tell her not to let herself be a victim. Inside Jane's room, the two girls are fighting. Jane screams at Angela not to have sex with her father. Someone knocks at the door. It's Ricky, there to ask Jane if she'll leave with him for New York that very night. She says that she will. Horrified, Angela insists that they can't do that; they're only kids. Ricky tells Jane that he has forty thousand dollars in his bag, and friends in the city. Angela tells Jane not to go with him, and tries to convince her that she can't. Ricky tells Angela that she's not Jane's friend - she just uses her to feel better about herself. Jane shouts that if Ricky's a "freak" then so is she, and that Angela will never understand. Beginning to cry, Angela tells Jane, "at least I'm not ugly," to which Ricky replies that she is ugly...ugly, and boring, and ordinary. Angela walks out of the room and sits down on the stairs, sobbing.

The Colonel walks through the rain towards the garage where Lester is doing pull-ups, his shirt off once again. He sees the Colonel through the window and opens the garage door to let him in. The Colonel enters, dripping wet and clearly distraught, and Lester offers to go get Ricky. He asks if the Colonel is OK, and the Colonel asks him where his wife is. Lester replies that she's probably off having sex with Buddy Kane, but that he doesn't care. Shivering, the Colonel asks him how that's possible. Lester tells him that their marriage is "just for show." The Colonel laughs, then Lester, clearly concerned, gently suggests that they get him out of his wet clothes. The Colonel seems to be crying. Lester tries to comfort him, but then Colonel Fitts suddenly leans in and kisses him. Lester, although shocked, gently pushes him away, telling him that he must have misunderstood. Looking devastated, the Colonel slowly turns and walks back out into the rain. Lester simply stands there. Back in Carolyn's car, Carolyn sits holding up her gun. She turns off the tape, puts the gun in her purse, and repeats to herself, "I refuse to be a victim." She drives off into the night.

Analysis

At the beginning of this section, Lester reminds the audience that he is going to die, but this time he goes so far as to say that he is going to die today. It is the tension created by the audience's awareness of his impending death (likely a murder) that directs the remainder of the film. Interestingly, however, this reminder does not immediately affect the tone of the film. The section begins on a cheerful note: Lester is very much alive, and far more fit and self-assured. He drinks out of the pitcher (presumably in defiance of Carolyn's orders), and calmly digests the news that Angela will be spending the night without spitting out his smoothie. At the same time, his relationship with Jane remains fraught with tension. His reactions to her are similar to his reactions to his wife, and the sadness and frustration he feels after they fight suggests that he deeply regrets the extent to which their relationship has disintegrated.

Only after Lester finds out about his wife's affair does his imminent death began to seem like a true possibility. Over the next few scenes, potential killers crop up everywhere. Carolyn's unbalanced understanding of substance versus image transforms her guilt about her affair into anger at Lester for having ruined her life. She doesn't seem to believe - on a conscious level, in any case - that she has done anything wrong. Lester is the one who is responsible for humiliating her in public and driving away her prize, Buddy Kane. Colonel Fitts has shown himself to be a violent and unstable man, and when he sees Ricky and Lester engaged in what he believes to be a sexual act, it seems perfectly plausible that he will attempt to kill one or both of them. When he kisses Lester, revealing his own inner torment and repressed homoerotic feelings, the possibility of violence only grows stronger. Even Ricky and Jane's earlier conversation takes on a more ominous tone, as Angela's repeated threats that she will have sex with Jane's father raise the distinct possibility that Ricky will make good on his offer.

The multiplicity of the storylines in the film reaches its peak at this point in the narrative. On the one hand, American Beauty is a film about one man's death, or one man's life. On the other hand, all around Lester people are caught up in tumultuous conflicts and complicated relationships. Lester is no more the sole focus of the film than he is the center of the universe. One of the overall messages of American Beauty is that the world is full of startling revelations if one only strives to look at things more closely.

Nevertheless, at this point in the film the plots all begin to converge on the moment of Lester's death. One of the symbols that bring these disparate plots together is the supposed murder weapon: all three potential killers (Carolyn, Colonel Fitts, and Ricky) have easy access to guns, and at least two of them (Carolyn and Colonel Fitts) are practiced shots. Even Ricky, having spent some time in military school, is presumably comfortable around firearms. This choice of weapon is extremely fitting given the strong symbolic association between guns and America.

Summary

In the kitchen, Lester opens a beer and drinks, then hears something and walks to the doorway. He goes into the living room, where he sees Angela sitting in the corner. She stands up and tells Lester that she and Jane had a fight about the fact that Angela thinks he's sexy. Lester offers Angela a sip of his beer. They walk towards each other and meet in the middle of the room, framed on the right by a bouquet of red roses. Lester asks Angela what she wants and takes her shoulders in his hands. She says she doesn't know, and then asks him what he wants. He says that he wants her and reaches up to touch her cheek. He tells her how beautiful he thinks she is and kisses her forehead, then her eyes. He tells her, "You couldn't be ordinary if you tried," and she smiles. He kisses her, and she kisses him back.

Carolyn speeds down the road, repeating her mantra: "I refuse to be a victim." On the chaise lounge, Lester leans over Angela, sliding his hands down her body and slipping off her jeans. Upstairs, Jane and Ricky are lying on her bed. She asks if he's scared, and he tells her he doesn't get scared. She comments that her parents will try to find her, and he says that his won't. Lester takes off Angela's shirt, and she tells him that it's her first time. He laughs, thinking that she's joking, but then she tells him that she thought she should tell him. He looks at her, horrified, then presses his face against her breast. She asks what's wrong, and he gets up. He picks up a blanket and covers her with it, wrapping his arms around her, and she starts to cry.

Carolyn has pulled up in front of the house. In the kitchen, Lester watches over Angela, who has just eaten and says that she is feeling "better." Lester asks Angela how Jane is, and Angela tells Lester that Jane is really happy, and that she "thinks she's in love." Lester smiles. Angela asks Lester how he is, and he thinks about her question for a moment, then tells her that he's "great." Angela smiles and excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Lester walks over to the counter and picks up a picture, then sits down at the kitchen table to look at it. It is a picture of him, his wife, and Jane, when Jane was only a few years old. They look very happy. Lester marvels at the picture, seeming totally at peace.

Suddenly the barrel of a gun is visible behind Lester's head. The camera pans away, to the wall. There is the sound of a gunshot, and blood spatters against the white tiles. Jane and Ricky come down the stairs. They open the kitchen door and see a pool of blood. Ricky enters the kitchen, bends down, and looks at Lester's face. Even though blood is spilling from a hole in Lester's forehead, he looks happy...beautiful, even. Lester begins to speak in voice-over. He tells the audience that the one second before you die "stretches on forever": for him, he says, it was "lying on his back at Boy Scout camp looking at the stars." The moment of Lester's death then repeats over and over. Jane and Ricky hear the gunshot. Lester remembers maple trees, and Angela, looking in the mirror, is startled by the sound of the shot. Lester remembers his grandmother's skin, and we see Carolyn standing outside clutching her purse as the gun goes off, the sound faint through the pouring rain. Finally, Lester sees his cousin Tony's "brand new Firebird."

Colonel Fitts, wearing gloves, his white shirt covered in blood, walks into his office and shuts the door, gasping for breath. He takes off his shirt, and the camera pans to reveal that a gun is missing from his cabinet. Then we return to Lester's memories in the moment before he dies: a younger Jane opens her bedroom door and smiles, and then a toddler Jane wearing a Halloween fairy costume stands holding a sparkler in her hand. Back in the house, Carolyn walks into her room, shoves her purse into a box, and then collapses into the closet, sobbing, her arms wrapped around Lester's shirts. Finally Lester remembers a younger, happier Carolyn laughing on a spinning ride at a fair. The shot transitions to Ricky's video of a paper bag blowing with the leaves against a red brick wall.

"I guess could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me," Lester says in voice-over. "But it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes it seems like I'm seeing it all at once and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst." The screen fills with an image of Lester's neighborhood, and we ascend towards the sky as Lester continues: "And then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain, and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm talking about I'm sure. But don't worry: you will someday."

Analysis

Lester's new identity finally stabilizes in the last section of the film. Though he comes frighteningly close to making a huge mistake, his realization that Angela is not a femme fatale, but only a scared little girl, ultimately redeems him. By indulging in fantasies about Angela, by freeing his imagination, Lester frees himself. At first Lester's newfound freedom confused him, making him think that in order to be truly free one must give in to every desire, but he ultimately realizes that true freedom is found in balancing your love for yourself with your love for others. Lester is finally able to voluntarily reassume the responsibilities that he had originally taken on only because he was forced to. Only by re-experiencing his adolescence can Lester truly become an adult. Another important component of Lester's redemption is his renewed concern for Jane. When Lester asks Angela how Jane is doing, he seems to be reminding himself that his identity as a father is just as important as his identity as an individual.

One of the most striking and beautiful aspects of the film is its honest, unflinching portrayal of teenage angst. This theme climaxes when Jane tells Ricky that her parents will look for her, to which Ricky responds that his won't. While there is a clear distinction between their problems (Jane's are, technically speaking, far less serious) Mendes shows us that, to Jane, her problems don't feel less serious. Her desire to get away from her parents, to stop being affected by their insanity, is no less significant than Ricky's desire to have parents who will love him no matter what. Ricky doesn't even care if the Colonel shows his love by drug testing him or hitting him. Ricky only gives up on his father when his father literally throws him out of the house.

In another display of stellar cinematographic technique, the audience experiences and re-experiences the moment of Lester's death. This allows the viewer to see multiple characters' reactions in a more immediate way. Interestingly, these reactions are relatively simple, and are not really intended to build suspense: the film is not, at heart, a murder mystery. After Lester's death, the film is not concerned with the fate of Colonel Fitts, whether Carolyn or Jane will be suspected of the crime, or whether Carolyn will feel guilty about her murderous intentions (after all, why else was she bringing the gun into the house?). The ending focuses solely on Lester, on the beauty he finds in life in the moment of his death.

In death, Lester finally figures out what he never quite understood in life: that happiness is found in freedom, yes, but also in the love that you give and receive. True happiness is the ability to look at a fallen bird, or a paper bag dancing in the wind, and see its true beauty. Happiness comes from seeing the beauty in everything, from knowing that no matter how bad life seems, the world is a wondrous place. Through this realization, the film suggests that American beauty is democratic, far-reaching: there is indeed beauty everywhere you look, so long as you take the time to see.

• Biography of Sam Mendes
• About American Beauty
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Glossary of Terms
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 1 ("The High Point of My Day") through Scene 4 ("The Gym")
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 5 ("Spectacular") through Scene 8 ("My Personal Hero")
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 9 ("I Love Root Beer") through Scene 12 ("I Want to Look Good Naked")
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 13 ("Mom's Mad") through Scene 16 ("The Most Beautiful Thing")
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 17 ("Pass the Asparagus") through Scene 20 ("Massive Psychological Damage")
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 21 ("The Day You Die") through Scene 24 ("Our Marriage is Just for Show")
• Summary and Analysis of Scene 25 ("You Couldn't Be Ordinary if You Tried") through Scene 27 ("My Stupid Little Life")
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