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Director Sam Mendes makes his feature film debut with this film about the dark side of an American family and the nature and cost of beauty in a culture obsessed with outward appearances. Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a man in his mid-40s going through an intense mid-life crisis. His relationship with his wife Caroline (Annette Bening) is not a warm one - on the surface she is in full control of her life, inside she feels empty and desolate. Their teenage daughter Jane (Thora Birch) is depressed and has a chronic lack of self-esteem. Lester falls into uncontrollable lust with Jane’s beautiful best friend Angela (Mena Suvari) and she becomes part of a drastic plan to change his body and his life. Meanwhile, their new next-door neighbor, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper) has spent a lifetime in the Marine Corps and can tolerate no other way of life, which makes things very difficult for his son Ricky, an aspiring filmmaker and part-time drug dealer who is obsessed with beauty, wherever and whatever it may be. This film is a darkly humourous, scathing and shocking journey through life in suburban America. (Awards: Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor 1999)
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
316348
Languages
Danish
Dutch
English
English
English
Finnish
Norwegian
Swedish
Audience classification
M (15+)
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion picture trailers
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Motion pictures - Awards - Australia
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Family - United States
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Family - Psychological aspects
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Teenage girls
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Teenagers - Family relationships
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Drugs
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Men - Psychology
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Teenage girls
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
DVD; Access Print (Section 1)