Abstract

The film Revolutionary Road is based on 1950s’ American society, which is an extremely important and special period in American history. The movie talks about the heroine April who puts forward a plan of "moving to Paris" to save her marriage, and then it points out the different life choices of characters. The thought-provoking scene is that, April died with the failure of the plan at the end.
However, little study and analysis on this movie have been seen. Let alone the analysis of the movie from the perspective of existentialism. Existentialism is one of the main schools of contemporary western philosophy, stressing freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.
By analyzing the background, characters’ language and plot development from the perspective of existentialism, the author exposes invisible waves existing under the calm surface of the American society and analyzes people's dilemma in transitional society. Also, the author enlightens people to think about the significance of the existence and to release relentlessly depressed genuine self and comes to the conclusion that the people can make free choices and live better.
This paper consists of three parts. The first part deals with the content of the movie briefly. The second part introduces the development and basic concepts of existentialism. The third part analyzes Revolutionary Road from the viewpoint of existentialism in addition to the author’s understanding.

Key words: existentialism; Revolutionary Road; philosophical thinking

摘  要

电影《革命之路》是以上世纪五十年代的美国为背景，这是美国历史上极其重要的一段时间。影片讲述了女主角爱普莉为拯救痛苦的婚姻生活而提出的一个“全家搬到巴黎”的计划，牵引出剧中人物对生活道路的不同选择。发人深省的场景是，随着计划的失败，在故事的最后爱普莉也意外死亡。
但在中外研究上，对此电影的分析不多，以存在主义来分析的更是寥寥可数。存在主义是当代西方哲学的主要流派之一，强调人们选择的自由和对自己行为的后果承担责任。
笔者从存在主义角度出发,通过分析电影的时代背景、人物语言和情节发展等，揭露了美国社会隐藏在平静水面下的暗涌，分析了转型期社会的人们的两难处境，启发人们理解自己存在的意义，释放不断压抑的真我，并且得出结论，即人可以自我选择，并活得精彩。
 本文分为三个部分。第一部分简单介绍这部电影的内容；第二部分介绍存在主义的发展、含义；第三部分从存在主义角度分析《革命之路》，以及作者自己的理解。

关键词：存在主义；《革命之路》；哲理思考