True. When I first watched this movie in 2011, the ending didn't have much impact on me. I was 51 then knowing I had much time left and still trying hard to make life have some real sense and meaning. Now that I'm retired and had done all I could, Lester's message of looking at all that we had in life and being grateful and happy for them is what really matters in the end. Let me add that we also need to forget all the things we failed at because those are just "should haves" and "could haves" that eventually manifest themselves as regret robbing us of happiness.
Such a sad ending. Nothing really changes in this film except Lester's mindset. He had convinced himself that everything in life had fallen into place finally, and yet his wife and daughter still didn't love him. But when his mind found peace, after years of struggle, it was fate that his life had to end
I don't think it was that at all. He was convinced that he needed to 'break out' of the prison he felt trapped in, and he did that to some degree, living a mostly mostly care free life and doing as he pleased. But the reality finally hits him when he's on the verge of having sex with Angela and she announces she's still a virgin. Its like a bomb going off in his head, and he thinks "Wtf am I doing? She's the same age as my daughter for christ sake!" - its the moment where Lester realises that he already has everything he needs in his life, a beautiful wife and daughter who he loves deeply. That's why he's staring at their picture at the end before his murder. Its the realisation that he infact already has everything he needs, and that instead of being a rebel and trying to embrace his youth which nobody can ever get back, he needs to act his age in all certainty. Fate wasn't dictating that his life had to end, he was murdered within the confines of the narrative because Colonel Fitts blamed him for his son Ricky being 'gay', coupled with the Colonel being unable to face the feelings of actually being gay himself. Alan Ball who wrote the script/story took inspiration from his own childhood and father, who he suspects was a closeted homosexual who gave up the chance to be who he really was - that was the inspiration for the Colonel character. In truth I think the majority of us hit a wall like Lester - its not that you can't break out, its just about how you do it!! Its a prison I'm breaking out of at this very moment, and I turn 39 next month! Here's to life!!
I think he accepted it and that is his peace when he died to me he was at peace the things he burdened was lifted he washappy at that moment accepting everything that was going on and accepting he hadbeen freed then the crazy asl dad shoots him
This is one of my favorite movies because you don't watch it, you feel it. It makes me remember all the beauty of my life and become sad but also thankful. One day we'll all see our lives before our eyes.
@@best7993 sometimes it's hard to see the forest amongst the trees. I get so nostalgic and emotional thinking about the good times, loved ones, and life experiences watching this. I realized that life is a gift from the Lord. And one day we'll be able to experience and appreciate these feelings again, and thank God for letting us live them.
Annette Bening’s acting in this scene gave me chills the first time I saw it. She is extremely dissatisfied and hates him throughout the movie. It’s never quite clear what exactly she’s mourning-his death, the loss of their marriage, the inability to keep up appearances for others anymore-but her acting in this scene brought tears to my eyes. I like to think that even though their marriage was terrible, she was mourning the loss of the man she once loved.
exactly, i feel the same, it's like a surprise because you wouldn't imagine her to be sad about his death but her acting, with the music and with his soothing voice. What a film
@@francescoscibilia7732 yes! a surprise is the perfect word, i never expected her to be that affected by it. the contrast with his calmness as he speaks vs. her losing it and falling apart was heartbreaking but cinematically really impactful .
People that are too into themselves to care about their lover never stop to think about how it’ll be if that person actually left forever. Women are weird, they’re okay with leaving you and never talking to you again or being able to reach you at all which is kinda like dying. But they’re not okay with you flat out just dying. I think it’s hypocrisy that happens because they don’t allow emotions to process. That type of person is always toxic through and through and I’ve met a bunch
She didn't love him any more in a romantic way. There wasn't any more chemistry between the two, but she still loved him as a person and the memories hurt deep knowing that he was dead.
I always thought her grief came from their final interaction: the drive thru. They never talked about it or anything. She got caught cheating & he ends up getting killed. Kind of an unfinished business situation. But maybe it's all those things happening at once.
"Don't worry. You will someday." Somehow... those five words instill so much fear in me. Fear of the unknown, yet that cruel inevitability. Despite it... I can't help but let my mind wander. This whole dialogue really made me think back... to every moment I took for granted in my life. I have learned to not do so, I have time, and lots of it if fate grants it. I wonder what more will life give me... what beauty awaits the days moving forward.
Don't worry, we are souls not the body and body dies not the soul. And while we enjoy the beauty of this world, we should also focus on our eternal life which is beyond this realm. 😊
They used to and “still do” it’s just been in sense hidden or locked in a box for 14 years or so. Until he’s gone, literally gone, no way of him coming back, she breaks down, the life they built, as little as it was or wasn’t, she realizes he’s gone never to return. You spend your 20s 30s mid 40s with one person and then they’re gone… they take the happiness that you had in your 20s 30s and 40s with them. Those decades of our lives are when our adolescent and college age optimism goes away and real life hits you so by their mid-40s Carolyn realizes he’s gone and so is the person she used to be.
This is without a doubt, the BEST movie ending of ALL time! I ALWAYS love to watch it and it always just fills me with such comfort and really relaxes me, so so beautiful. Not just the words that are in it, but the piece of music that plays in the background of it (Any Other Name). Both of us remind me exactly as Lester says 'I remember to relax', and in fact, 'it is hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world'. Best four minutes and thirty-eight seconds I have seen of a movie and yet also, it has taught me SO much...
Late 90s Movies like AB, fight club, and even the matrix are what happens when the people in those 'teen angst' movies from the 80s and early 90s grow up and realize the angst never went away and life doesn't get better...and they're very pissed off about it.
If our lives don't get any better, that is usually because of our own choices. We can waste time blaming others or we can do our part to improve our place in this world.
No, it is Sam Mendes' American Beauty. This is not about "American" tragedy, but human tragedy in general. You think having a job you dislike, having lost passionate love with your wife and having a rebel teenager daughter is something only Americans experience? Think twice. This movie is about appreaciating the beauty of life, even in the struggle, even in the mundane. It has a universal meaning, which is why it is relatable to any person of every country, not only Amerians. Also, contrary to your suggestion, most people love The Great Gatsby because they can relate to Gatsby's obssession with the past, rather than by its critique of the American Dream (but at least Fitzgerald did address the American Dream, Sam Mendes didn't, American Beauy isn't about the American dream but about the beauty of life). Aiming to have a big house, being married and having kids is not something exclusively American.
Trivia: Originally, the movie had a much different ending. After Frank shoots Lester dead, the police investigate, and they discover Ricky's videotape of Jane which Jane says she wants someone to kill Lester and both Ricky and Jane are falsely arrested for murder and at the trial, Angela willingly testifies against them, and Jane and Ricky are both found guilty and are imprisoned. Ricky gets sent to prison and Jane is sent to a girl's juvenile centre The ending was changed in favour for the ending we got in the movie.
Ao glad they changed it, that ending is awful would've ruined the movie. The entire thing was him talking to us from beyond the grave and how he had reached enlightenment in his own way. I'd have been fine ending it with the smile on his dead face and fading to black
@King Courtney what on earth do you mean by that? The character of Jane is (with possible exception of Mrs Fitts), probably the most innocent and victimised in the entire film. What did she do that, in your eyes, justified her being falsely convicted and imprisoned for the murder of her own father?
@gavinmillar816 Mrs Fitts was definitely the biggest victim. Not sure I'd even label Jane a victim at all. Nothing all that bad happened to her, she was just a normal moody kid living a dull and meaningless life under the facade of the perfect life until she met Ricky. Either way, didn't deserve anything bad like that happen to her.
@Scott D She's a victim of growing up in a poisoness family environment. As she says of her own father in the very first scene of the film, "he is doing massive psychology damage to me" And she's right
Not a bad way to go, full of memories of how wonderful the world can be. There are memories I have that are unsurpassable, a glance from my first girlfriend, her kindness that i was too young to fully appreciate. My first dog running at the marshes. I’d be fine with that at the last.
LOL, your dog, Who the hell cares about a creature with a small brain cortex that can't even talk? So one of your best memories is from a dog, rather than a person? Get outta here, this is ridiculous.
As if Lester was pretending to be happy, after he over heard Angela saying to Jane that he would look hot if he would just work out his body, so that gave Lester the motivation to redeem himself, then later on he realized Angela wasn't the woman that he thought would be, then he came to the realization that he had been lying to himself the whole entire time until he picked up his family photo and would do almost anything to go back to the good old times he had with his wife and daughter back when they were one happy family and respected him to the fullest. All Lester wanted was things to go back to the way they were when they were all happy
And it's so sad that he was killed the moment he realized it and find peace. They should have let him live for a day or two at least let him rekindle all that lost bond with his wife and daughter
@@Mechantrechyrmang I think it's happy and sad - sad because he dies and there's so much left unsaid. But uplifting because Lester actually got a moment of true fulfillment at the end, he dies feeling the wonder of life which is more than a lot of people can say.
It’s funny when I was a teenager I used to hate my life. I still sometimes feel at a loss for some of the choices I made or didn’t make. But when I really think back and think deep now I realise I had a great time. I had so many friends, every day was full of excitement. And my very first love how could I ever forget that feeling. Specially when we played as kids and I always had a thing for her. Still see each other sometimes driving or walking by never even say hi because of how it ended but it’s like there’s still something there when we look at each other for that split second, we were both our first in everything. Now life has moved on got kids and a partner that really loves me. I just wish I could of appreciated life more and the people in it. It’s like when you become an adult and get responsibility’s you stop living. I think the movie portrays that in ways. Yes we can still enjoy life but it’s different. When your young and have no responsibilities you really do live life depending on family situations. Anyone in their teens reads this doesn’t matter who you are go out and enjoy your time because when your looking back at your going to have regrets. Do as many things as you can do make as many friends as you can but most importantly be safe doing it all
Seems that many people are confused. Carolyn breaks down BEFORE she becomes aware that Lester is killed; she's just entered the house - without passing through the kitchen where his dead body lies - with the intent to kill him, but couldn't do it & broke down. Pity they didn't film the scene when she discovers his brain-splattered corpse. Perhaps, that would be too much to handle ...
You're the only one with a valid point, most people misunderstood that reference by thinking she mourn his death. When in reality she was planning to kill him to make her a victim of what a miserable wife and mother she was but she didn't have the courage to do so. But i don't understand why would Col Frank kill him
So they hear a gunshot, casually stroll towards it, sees her dads head blown off, and they casually stand there and record it, without knowing who killed him or whether the killer was still in the house waiting to shoot them as well. Makes sense.
Carolyn killed Lester and ran upstairs and immediately regretted it. Colonel Frank Fitts shot and murdered his own wife next door meanwhile. Very misinterpreted ending. You can clearly see no gloves are on the finger to the trigger of the gun pointed at Lester’s head. Frank Fitts was shown with gloves on and a bloody mess (after shooting his own wife). Carolyn practiced shooting the very same or at least very similar gun that the colonel had (and used) earlier in the movie and she was seen driving home in the rain clearly set on what she intended to do: kill Lester and stop being a victim once and for all.
@@senpailee1967 at 1:42:20 seconds into the movie, she literally says, "I refuse to be a victim" in her car on her way back to the house in the rain, alluding to the personal help tapes she’s been listening to, and while she prepares the gun she says this as well in the same scene. This "victim" term is mentioned in the movie earlier as well when her and Lester argue about their unhappy marriage.
@gbowers the gunshot is heard when she's outside walking up to the house. How'd she shoot him? There might be a mistake w the no glove and glove but she couldn't have shot him if she was outside. Col. Fitz did it because Lester knew his secret
This scene made my jaw drop literally. It happens so quickly. You get to know this character so intimately for almost 2 hours, and then in one second, BANG! Crazy to think about. Either way, great movie about the beauty of life. My rating: 9/10, A-
I watched this film in 2001 a couple of weeks after my father died and I was an emotional mess. The performances in this film were superb and it's definitely one of my favourite films.
This goes to show you the absolute power music has both in TV and film. If you watch this scene muted, it doesn't hit nearly in the same way. There's no emotion, there's no feelings slammed into the viewer with the gentle notes from Thomas Newman's score. With the music, it grabs you tight and you absolutely feel every second of its squeeze!
I wonder if he knew Mr. Fitts was standing behind him, aiming a gun to the of his head. Did he noticed him in the reflection and just accepted his fate with open arms?
This was such a deep, deep movie!!!! They DEFINITELY don't make movies like this anymore!!! It's a feeling rather than a movie!!!! It's like real life!!! There REALLY IS SO MUCH BEAUTY in this world, but evil is trying to corrupt and destroy everything that is good!!!!!
I just finished watching and I cried a lot. I really don't understand what happened but his wife's love affair with someone else and her murder It saddens me
I never knew how to express that same feeling or at least what I think is the same feeling as he's explaining at the end here...when I was a kid I would sit and stare and things that I thought were so pretty and beautiful natural things like sunsets or the sky filled with stars at night and I just couldn't get a good fucking grasp on how incredible it looked. I always wished I could just snap a photo of it in my mind and be able to hold it forever...would always bother me that I eventually would go inside and just kind of forget how beautiful it all looked in that moment and just wanted to be able to frame it and have it forever...
All of you who are saying you feel negative emotions or sorrow or even fear aren’t getting it AT ALL. This scene is pure beauty. At the end of his life, Lecester learned true profundity and what ultimate peace and meaning really. May we all as well. “It was in the depths of Winter that I finally learned there lay within me an Invincible Summer.” -A. Camus
This last part....it shows nothing ....but your precious life....I don't know how many times I have watched this part....every time it feels like seeing it very newly...very fresh
I watched this movie in the cinema at 17.Usually at that age I only watched violent action movies. It changed the way I looked at everything.I could feel it x
I really feel sorry for people who never seem to find the center of their own lives and they just exist going in a circle, and never are happy or satisfied. Then if or when they find out what they really want to do and be, and are capable of achieving it, it’s to late, their to old.
Morgan Freeman: [voiceover] "I'd like to think that the last thing that went through his head.....other than that bullet.....was to wonder how the hell Andy Dufresne ever got the best of him."
as a man in his mid 30s, im currently experiencing mid life crisis. my wife doesnt know this becquse i dont want her to worry. to fix this, or at least make it bearable, i smoke weed, jog, work out, take more leaves from work, and I FEEL GREAT!
The central key of this wonderful film is the unbelievable existing lack of communication within a yet disfunctional family assuming that status and money should prevailbefore anything.
Damm this movie made realise a lot of things that im just wasting my youth by sitting all in my room infront of screens and not going outside to enjoy my life
Frank Fitts did not kill Lester. He killed his wife. Two separate gunshots were heard in the end of the movie at separate times. One from Carolyn shooting Lester in the back of the head and the other from Frank shooting his wife next door, as it is heard faintly in the rain storm and distinctly coming from the house next door and strongly fixed on the left side of the audio mix. Look closer and then look again. A movie with an obvious interpretation would not invite you to 'look closer.'
@@iycrm4583the finger isn’t wearing a glove but the model of pistol is closer to Franks, Carolyn had a 1911, Frank had a different model of gun, the barrel is shorter and the one at the end looks more like Franks than Carolyn’s. Carolyns 1911 had a longer barrel you have to rewatch the clips. There is also the missing gun at the end.
@@carguy3028 but normally when shooting someone especially in the head, the blood and body parts will spat and land most cases in the direction where the bullet follows. Also you just see blood, but no brain matter on Frank's shirt. After the shot, Lester look undisturbed and where if Frank went to move or hover him, Lester's face and all around body when Frank's son found him, would have been covered in blood and would have shown some form of hand prints. Carolyn must have shot him just before hearing the faint gunshot and the look on her face says all the shock and guilty she has done.
I remember watching this movie at the odeon cinema at marble arch back in 1999 when it came out... funny I'm now a middle aged man going through it like lester
Part of the movie hit home for me. I was in a bad marriage, quit a shitty job that was taking my soul and my wife was pissed. Had sex with a 25yo when I was 50. All I can say is Kevin Spacey was great in the movie. Other than that I thought the movie was pretty depressing.
Do you realize Colonel Franklin Fitts might get the Death Penalty for killing Lester Burnham with his gun? If this ever happened in real life, he might get that big time!
Watched this movie for the first time and I gotta say it’s one of the best ever…a man so deprived of love he created a fantasy of what he thought he wanted but when he finally had that girl he realized it’s was smoking mirrors
O melhor ator até hoje.sem dúvida nenhuma.fez uma brilhante atuação em Beleza Americana principalmente na cena da dança que parece o MC Kevinho cantando olha a explosão.Anita vai malandra kkk😅😊😱🙀👍🏻😎
The best actor to date.without a doubt.he gave a brilliant performance in American Beauty, especially in the dance scene that looks like MC Kevinho singing, look at the explosion.Anita is going naughty lol😅😊😱🙀👍🏻😎
I would argue that’s better, than him actually realizing it when it was gone. At least he had time to realize it and enjoy it even if it was only for a few seconds
I don’t know, man. Everybody making this movie out to be this amazing deep thing with a great message… It’s a great movie but it’s funny and crazy. What’s so.. life changing about it?
I love how everyone has a different take on this films message. And everyone opinions seems right. But I always saw it Lester woke up from a midlife crisis. And why he thought of his wife and still loved her was because he accepted his responsibility. She was dead wrong to cheat on him. And she is not the victim in any light. But he was guilty of acting immature pushing her away to live like a big care free kid. And he was still trying to hook up with a teen the whole time during the movie. The moment she tells him she’s a virgin was reality slapping him out of the mid life crisis. And screaming what the f**k are you doing ?
