Having been a 50s housewife with children at home and a husband who wanted to be anywhere but there, this movie was familiar territory. How many of us in those years simply packed our dreams away for the immediate necessity of putting food on the table and paying the mortgage? Di Caprio is outstanding, as is Winslet, she having to deal with an American accent along with the tearing emotions. I didn't see that anyone picked up on the final scene, of Kathy Bates and her husband, but to me that was the whole moral of the story - here is where you will end up if you give in to what you know is not right for you. Overall, though, well done - except women in the 50s did NOT wear hats to work!!

This movie is strangely reminicsent of American beauty. You have the odd one person who seems to be at odds with societies norms, the office workaday non-person who is at odds with his wife, and a really very odd almost crazy person in the mix who really makes the most sense. Its a one time viewing sort of movie that works on many levels but doesnt quite seem to hit the mark, Di-Caprio, Winslet and Kathy Bates all do an extraordinary job to make this believable.When DiCaprio's character does all he can to be the doting husband suddenly does an about face in what would have been the 'Out' that his wife had been hoping for everything seems to fall apart. The deep complicated relationship between Kate and Leonard just quickly gets bogged down in a verbose frustrating quagmire of hurt and to top it off an unwanted pregnancy seals the deal. Hence we get too the point when Kate simply says "stop talking" A point made clear at the end when the husband of Kathy Bates turns down his hearing aid to deaden the sound of her voice. A sad and bitter end an almost nonredeemable situation. Worth a look.

Superb performance by the leads draw the viewers into a not-so-unfamiliar suburban family drama. What makes the film so appealing is that it speaks directly to so many married couples. If we don't see resemblances of our lives in the film, we would see it in our friends' and relatives'.

Through all the fights and drama, we alternatively sympathize with the husband and the wife. The great cast of neighbors enliven the story. The film leads the viewers on an emotional ride as April (Kate Winslet) and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) hit a rough patch, reconcile, then descend into further chaos. We are inclined to "take side" in the couple conflict, but as the story unfolds, who is responsible for the crumbling relationship and who is the strong one becomes less clear cut.

The film beautifully explores the emotion and characters of a loving couple in crisis when both realized that they had fallen into domesticity and might be missing out on life (or maybe not). It leaves us pondering about the choices we've made and the life we've resigned to.