On the Road: “Making Love? Do it longer”.

‘Revolutionary Road’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a modern couple in the 1950s trying to break away from the conformity of suburban life, is surprisingly engaging, even harrowing in its honesty, and well played by its leading stars.

However I did wonder about two modest ‘sex scenes’ in the film. After all we had the pleasure of the company of two of the silver screen’s current ‘heart throbs’. I don’t mean that the scenes were not graphic enough. Or that the characters were fully clothed during intercourse, understandable in the 50s. It was actually the duration of coitus that seemed implausible: no, not excessively long but absurdly short!

A kiss from his wife instantly arouses Leo to passion and in one movement he immediately has his way with her on the kitchen cupboard. The whole operation takes no longer than a minute or two, and both parties appear satisfied. The camera does not cut-away and return: that’s it! On another occasion Kate ‘makes out’ (as Americans say) with her husband’s pal in the front seat (5os bench style) of their car and it’s even briefer. Don’t even mention ‘foreplay’, unless you mean meaningful looks.

The Fifties occurred admittedly before the so-called ‘sexual revolution’ of the 60s but the movie’s scenes of lustful expression don’t do justice to American masculinity and above all the new-fangled invention of female orgasm.

Perhaps the film inspired those highway billboards with the wonderful headline interrogation: ‘Making Love?’. Initially I wondered how I was supposed to be doing it while driving at 100 kph. But surely obeying a command to ‘do it longer’ with help from a hotline conversation & prescription drugs, would only compound the risk.

That would be a real ‘revolutionary’ road. And maybe brief is good after all.