American Beauty

"... look closer"

1999 2h 2m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

★8.0TMDB · 13,430

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

“... look closer”

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Cast

Kevin Spacey
Lester Burnham
Annette Bening
Carolyn Burnham
Thora Birch
Jane Burnham
Wes Bentley
Ricky Fitts
Mena Suvari
Angela Hayes
Peter Gallagher
Buddy Kane
Allison Janney
Barbara Fitts
Chris Cooper
Colonel Fitts

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: Robin Richesson, Alan Ball, Tony Chance
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $356M — a 23.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sam Mendes, shot by Conrad Hall. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Christopher Greenbury shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening and Thora Birch carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "... look closer".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0169547 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Mendes directs. Conrad Hall behind the camera. Thomas Newman scores. Christopher Greenbury cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $356M — a 23.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
227 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Sam Mendes, shot by Conrad Hall. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Thomas Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Christopher Greenbury shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening and Thora Birch carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "... look closer".
8IMDB entry: tt0169547 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
913,430 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
10Classified under 36 themes, including "estate agent", "adultery", "coming out", "first time".

The technical file

Cinematography: Conrad Hall
Original score: Thomas Newman
Editing: Christopher Greenbury
Production design: Naomi Shohan
Costume design: Julie Weiss
Makeup / hair: Patricia DeHaney
VFX supervisor: Rob Hodgson
Sound: Bob Beemer
Stunt coordinator: Ben Scott
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $356,296,601
Return: 2375% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: American Beauty (1999)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Amanda Award for Best Foreign Feature Film
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Film
Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Director
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Sam Mendes

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb707525072020-04-08
★ 10/10
The film American Beauty to me is a film about purpose. What is your purpose in life? The film teaches that there is such great beauty in the small things in life and that sometimes you need to take a step back to allow yourself to take in the unfiltered beauty in the small things like a plastic bag dancing in the wind, playing with the leaves. The film tells it's audience that the beauty in the small details is much greater than society's typical image of beauty. The prominent rose in the film is a symbol of false, surface beauty; the expensive and romantic flower is amongst almost every single shot in the film reminding us that we need to look beyond the surface beauty of an entity and see the beauty within. This message surrounding beauty is empathised with the inclusion of the rose on the films poster and the tagline, 'look closer' indicating that to see real beauty one must 'look closer', a task that typically requires more thoughtfulness and less immediate facial value judgements that make up the typical image of beauty.
pullupenjoyer2022-11-19
★ 10/10
I first saw this film in my teen years. I didn't understand the plot of the movie back then but found the erotic scenes interesting. I think I was also impressed by Lesters change in attitude back then. Rewatching it in my early thirties the movie really catches me. The story of every character is catching, because everyone is struggling with different ordinary problems, some of them probably known by every adult. * Lester is fighting with his midlifecrisis and wants to break the devils-wheel of his boring everyday life. He also hates his job and the responsibility he has to carry because of it. * His wife Annette is frustrated by her job, because she isn't as successful as she wants to be. To bring more joy in her life she starts an affair with another (more successful) real estate salesman. * Their daughter Jane has a lack of self-confidence. She wants to be more like her more attention-getting friend Angela. * The neighbor Colonel Frank is militant, conservative and wants to give his values to his son. As he thinks his son is gay, he thinks it is his failure because of himself feeling attracted by men. * The neighbors son Ricky is a survivor. He tries to mimic to be a good son to his dad to stay out of trouble with him. Because he wants the newest technology (TVs, Camcorders, etc.) he is dealing with drugs. * Angela lies that she is sleeping with a lot of boys just to feel more self-confident when her friends geht jealous. She wants to become a model and tries to avoid to be ordinary in any way.
Andre Gonzales2023-04-16
★ 6/10
It was a ok movie. I didn't like Kevin Spacey creeping on a young teenager, but other then that it was a good movie.