Well, hell. My first reaction to the movie was that it’s depressing as hell. I didn’t see one likeable character in the movie except perhaps Ricky and just maybe Jane. Everyone is in a weird hell of their own or someone else’s choosing except Lester, who’s had an epiphany that his life sucks and would be perfect if he could just smoke dope all day and fuck a high school cheerleader. OK, fine, my life would probably be better too, but he, and the entire castwith the exception of Ricky and Jane (and of course Ricky’s mom) are horrible people I wouldn’t even want to know. Lester finally woke up that he is unhappy and wants something - anything! - else, but he’s so freaking selfish about it I can’t sympathize very much. It is a good movie. It’s a really really good movie. But it’s depressing on so many levels.
I think you misread my post. I was saying that if the scene was meant to indicate that indeed she was hearing things, Major Depressive Disorder With Psychotic Features is probably a more plausible diagnosis than schizophrenia. I mentioned it because you made the comment that people with depression don’t hallucinate, which is inaccurate.
Yes, I got that. I think you misread *my *post, because I was not disagreeing that the mother might have some hallucination-causing mental illness other than schizophrenia. That’s why I said I can buy that she might be hearing things for some other reason – possibly Major Depressive Disorder, possibly substance abuse as Argent Towers mentioned, possibly something else that none of us have thought of. I was disagreeing with your suggestion that maybe the scene isn’t meant to indicate that she was hearing things, but rather that she was just “drifting off”.
I assumed schizophrenic as well. Abusive marriages might cause anxiety problems, in extreme cases PTSD and in rare cases of extreme physical abuse perhaps brain damage (though by or after that point the law is usually involved). This woman wasn’t eccentric or “nervous” but full on mentally ill. It’s possible she’s overmedicated as well, but her husband isn’t the ultimate cause of her illness, though it wouldn’t be at all unrealistic for her teenaged son to blame him for it.
Ah, yes, I did misread. Sorry about that.
My understanding is that the movie was seriously re-edited to make the final version. I actually remember Allison Janney in a Leno or Letterman interview stating that the movie that was shown was totally different than the movie she thought she was making. Perhaps some of the explanations for her character’s actions where edited out.
But he did . . .
Sometimes ya just can’t win.
A little off the topic of the OP, but I read the script for American Beauty several years ago, and while I don’t remember anything more about Ricky’s mom than was in the final movie there were significant differences between the script and movie. The biggest one is that the script had a murder trial as a framing device. The videotape scene of Jane telling Ricky how much she hates her dad and Ricky offering to kill him that’s seen at the beginning of the movie was in the script being presented as evidence at the trial. Some of the other characters are seen testifying for the prosecution. In the end Jane and Ricky are convicted of murdering Lester.
I think it was definitely a wise move to drop these scenes.
Another difference, in the original script, Lester and Angela **do **have sex after she tells him she’s a virgin.
(I had actually read the original script a couple months before the film was released in theaters, so I was *very *pleased to see all the changes!)