I never get tired of watching this movie. The cinematography, coupled with the complex script, TERIFFIC performances all around, and "essential truth" to the story, come together to form a very powerful film. Definitely in my top five of all-time.
As everyone else has stated, Lester was killed by Mr. Fitts. Having repressed his homosexual feelings all of his life, the guy has serious psychological problems. When he "discovers" Ricky committing gay sex acts with Lester, his psychosis comes to the surface. He doesn't know what he's doing... did you notice how dazed he was when he walked up to Lester's house? His homosexual urges bubble to the surface for an instant and Lester's rejection of him only confuses him more. Having been a marine, killing is all he knows--it's his solution to problems.
As for Carolyn... she also pretends to be someone she's not (what else is new?). During the minutes before Lester's death she tries her hardest to convince herself that she is strong enough to be able to kill her husband, that she's assertive enough to do something so extreme without regard to consequences or what people will think. "I will not be a victim." However, as she walks in the door she reverts back to her shell of insecurity and superficiality and throws the gun away, returning to the comfort of the clothes in the closet (things like clothing and expensive sofas and her rose garden are what she hides behind).
The movie is about how our ideas of what beauty is are seriously skewed. By all appearances, the Burnhams are the ideal American family--nice house in suburbia, good jobs, a kid, picket fence, and rose garden. But behind all of that superficiality lies some pretty messed up people. Same with the Fitts family and of course, Miss Angela Hayes. In fact, the most normal people in the whole neighborhood were the gay couple next door.
An interesting factoid is that the movie was originally supposed to be a murder mystery at the end. That's why the scene where Ricky asks Jane if she wants him to kill Lester is shown at the very beginning of the movie--to plant the seed that Ricky is the murderer. But Carolyn is also a suspect, obviously, as is Ricky's dad. The last part of the movie (after Lester's death) is the trial of Ricky and Jane for Lester's murder. In the end it was to be revealed that Col. Fitts framed them as Lester's murderes. Those scenes were filmed but were cut from the final print because Sam Mendes (the director) thought that they detracted from the main point of the movie. While I would have liked to have seen the cut scenes somewhere on the DVD, I agree that the movie is perfect how it is.
I found it to be a very life-affirming movie. I know a lot of people felt like it was a "downer" but Ricky's speech about the plastic bag dancing and Lester's final monologue have so much "truth" to them. I would suggest watching it again... I get more out of it with every viewing. Good movies are like that.
Yes, The Ice Storm and Magnolia are also excellent movies with similar themes. Magnolia will desensitize you to the f-word... hehe... if you thought AB was confusing, you will find Magnolia ten times more so. It also makes more sense the second time around.
l2c
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