AMERICAN BEAUTY

RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS OF LESTER & CAROLYN

LESTER BURNHAMThe protagonist of American Beauty. Lester Burnham is a middle-aged man, who breaks free from his repressed way of life. He is married to Carolyn, with whom he has one daughter, Jane. Lester works for an advertising agency.

Lester introduces himself and informs the audience that "in less than a year, I'll be dead.“ At the film's beginning we are told, right away, by Lester, that he will be dead by the time the movie is over. Lester continues to voice over as the shot transitions into his bedroom where he is sleeping alone. The voice over continues as the camera follows him into the shower, where he masturbates- the “high point” of his day. The audience are introduce to a middle aged man who is deeply and fundamentally unsatisfied with his life. He is trying to regain the beauty he once saw in life by reverting back to his youth-pot smoking, lusting after a teenager, listening to seventies music, and working in a fast-food joint. His new approach to life is a controversial topic; there’s always a right and wrong, but the line can be so transparent, you can sometimes walk straight over it. By its end he has rediscovered an appreciation for the beauty of human existence.

CAROLYN BURNHAM

After marrying Lester, Carolyn earned her real estate license, and she has since become passionately involved in her career. What meager self-confidence she has is derived primarily from the appearance of her own home and the homes she sells. Carolyn is trying to live the suburban life and allowing others to believe she is living the American Dream through perfecting everything she does. She was once a happy and supportive mother, but has now become a power- hungry stressor who cannot sell houses as easily as others. Carolyn never makes this connection. She attempts to by having an affair with Buddy Lane "The Real Estate King," but fails because it was not a genuine connection. 

The contrast created in the film of the relationship between Lester and his wife, Carolyn, despite from the difference of their views in life- both of them are miserable.

The first view of Lester is of him lying in bed alone and looking sedated; the exposition is handled in via Voice Over narration by Lester, “In less than a year, I’m going to be dead”. This is a visual representation of how he feels about himself, “in a way I’m dead already”. The fact that he says his high point of his day is masturbating in the shower, showing that he can openly admit that which says he does not care anymore. While Lester has accepted his rut, his seeming lot in life, and adopted a sedated attitude, his wife Carolyn is picking her rose, looking all so delighted and giddy. Their next-door-neighbour asks Carolyn “I just love your roses how do you get them so flourish like this?” Displaying Carolyn, unlike Lester, can get things the way she wants them to be; telling the audience immediately that Carolyn is the superior in the family.

In the function scene when Carolyn introduces Lester, her husband to Kane she plays a happy act, and convinces Lester to do the same. Carolyn has a goal to be a better real estate salesperson, more prestige and more money. Of course Lester is not very enthusiastic to such events; he greets with a fake smile, sarcastic comments and leaves with a ‘passionate’ kiss to his wife. “We have a very healthy relationship” Rubbing off the fact that he is only trying as hard as his wife but in a derisive way. Later on in the film, Lester has realise that he needs to get out of the rut he has found himself in, and to take charge of his life, to live a happier, healthier life. Carolyn and Lester are eating dinner as usual, though Lester eats with much more gusto than we saw earlier.  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. 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. This helps to break him out of his rut. It prompts him to stand up to his wife.

Just when Lester takes charge of his life, quit his old job and got a new one, he catches his wife cheating. Lester does not let this ruin his day instead, he manned himself up and says “we’ve met before but something tells me you’re going to remember me this time”. This is what he said in his first interaction with Kane. A clever comment is a fulfillment of getting his life together. At this moment, Carolyn is the one being taken over as she is the one in wrong.At the end, as mentioned from the start Lester is the one dead. However, Carolyn changes somewhat; she deteriorates. She has an affair. She contemplates murder. She's more miserable now than she was at the start. Before Lester died he learns to get his life on track, and to love emotionally. Regardless of the affair, as he dies he withdraws his life- the love he has for his daughter and even for his wife. Now Carolyn is worse off- she's more miserable than at the start, and she just might have killed Lester herself, if Fitts has not done it first. Lester’s finally in peace whilst Carolyn is left with regrets and sorrows. 

Lester and Carolyn’s sexless marriage led the couple to be attracted and lusting over a person of the opposite gender, Lester to Angela and Carolyn to Buddy. As the film goes on, tension was built between the married couple as we know how much they have been frustrated trying to pretend living up as a normal family.  Lester’s character evolved from a total loser to a total free person caused him to gain self-confidence. This confidence drove him to try having sex with his wife in the living room intensifying the scene. However, Carolyn cut off Lester’s suggestive actions because the couch they were sitting on was expensive and they can’t afford to get it stained if they do it, “This is a $4,000 sofa, upholstered in Italian silk. It is not just a couch.” Their relationship worsens because of the contrast between their thinking. Lester initiates to fix up the family and find happiness but Carolyn thinks of nothing but trying to live up her supposed American Dream.

At a point, Lester decided to find his own happiness and live freely as he wants. He quit his job but found a new easy one. He buys his dream car and proudly presented it to his wife. He was happy with his decisions because step by step, he achieves his goals in life. However, when his family have known about this during the second dinner scene, tension was built up because Carolyn’s perspective is indifferent with Lester’s. Carolyn wants a high earning family while Lester wants a simple and happy life. 

Lester’s “failure” of American Dream intensified the tension of the couple’s relationship as Carolyn started an affair with Buddy. However, this affair didn’t last long as Lester caught them in act coincidentally. This has made Lester furious without showing it but has also caused him one thing: to be guilt-free. 

Upon realising her committed crime of adultery, Carolyn was frantic and kept on saying “I refuse to be a victim!” Her panic drove her to temptation of doing a crime as she goes home with a gun in hand, planning to kill Lester. However, only for Carolyn to find the dead and bloody body of Lester. She broke down for what she saw. She has thrown the gun and kept crying while touching her husband’s clothes. That was the scene where we understood that Carolyn still loves Lester. Her madness turned into guilt. She is guilty for not realising Lester’s importance in her life as she was so focused living up her supposedly American Dream. 

At the end of film, Carolyn and Lester’s relationship was not fixed and the contrast still remained. Lester died with a little smile as he knows to himself, he has achieved his goals and did what he wanted. On the other hand, Carolyn ended miserable and full of regrets.

The film shows how unhappy people are in modern day society and how we often go through life pretending that we are happy. The themes that are revealed through the relationship and action of Lester and Carolyn are: American Dream, Happiness, Frustration, Imprisonment, Rebellion and Sex and Sexuality. Lester and Carolyn don’t get along well and there seems to be a boundary between them.

The main theme/s that are evident throughout the film is the contrast of having the perfect life “American Dream” versus living life to the fullest “Happiness”.  All of the characters are engaged in the pursuit of happiness, although they have very different ideas about what happiness is and how to find it.

In the film, Lester and Carolyn have problems emotionally connecting with other and deteriorating relationships. Carolyn is presented as an opposite to Lester. He quits his job, she is obsessed with hers. Carolyn has a belief that happiness is about perception: she is happy if she seems pulled together, confident, and successful - in other words, she is happy if others think that she is happy. She believes that by pursuing success she is pursuing happiness, but in reality she is merely attempting to dampen her own misery over the wreckage of her marriage and the narrowness of her life. She chooses social status as her means of happiness, but in reality she is just miserable like the other characters in the film. Lester on the other hand, realizes that it is still possible for him to pursue happiness by separating his sense of self-worth from his job and his home life. He learns that even though his boss and wife treat him as though he's worthless, that doesn't mean that he is. By the end of the film, Lester is satisfied with his life because he has found true happiness and felt that he has lived his life to the fullest.

Carolyn Burnham represents American consumerism and the unfortunate belief that things can replace relationships. In the film, the “American Dream” has become an idea where it became a goal and the main focus of people’s lives rather than a reality. The Burnham household may seem to be a ‘normal’ American family but underneath the consensual happy family image lie hatred and fear. It was just an exterior, an act. Carolyn treated her family like a prop for her life and job.