updated on 01/14/01

Death, Doom, Despair

Nadia Alam's Review

Excerpt from:

American Beauty: Death, Doom, Despair, and a Little Perspective
by Lauren Hejna-Doan
4/8/00

...faded housewife Barbara Fitts (Allison Janney) who is a startling example of a person decomposing from the inside out.

As the walking dead with no hope of resurrection, Barbara Fitts (Allison Janney) speaks through people and in fragments. She effectively moves in and out of scenes like a lobotomized cat. She is in a constant state of shock that goes well beyond the question: What happened to my life? Interestingly, she does not speak often. Her history, which is never outlined in dialogue or by other physical methods, is clear in her actions—a further suggestion that we often do not need words to reveal who we are.

Mrs. Fitts is one of the most interesting in a cast of exceptionally interesting characters in part because her silence is the loudest scream of all. In some scenes, when she is in a lighted room, natural sunlight fades severely—although the sunlight itself does not vary.

See the original article at:

http://www.wbscoop.com/movies/movie_review.asp?movie_review_id=11

Excerpt from: Nadia Alam's Review of American Beauty

“Silence is one of the most articulate things. The reason for the way she [Barbara] is is gradually revealed in the end. Up until then, it could have been anything, her husband’s violence, her son’s drug dealing, anything in her life.” Mendes goes on to commend Janney for her incredible portrayal of this withdrawn woman.

www.scar.utoronto.ca/~undergnd/19/02/american_beauty.html

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