American beauty!!

 

 

As we fly over suburban America, Lester Burnham begins to speak, introducing himself to the audience and informing them, "in less than a year, I'll be dead." The shot then transitions into Lester Burnham's bedroom, where he is sleeping alone. An irritating alarm rings, and Lester, still in voice-over, ruminates on his sense that "in a way, I'm dead already." The voice-over continues as the camera follows Lester Burnham into the shower, where he masturbates - the "high point" of his day.

The next shot is a close-up of a beautiful red rose. The camera pans out to show Carolyn Burnham snipping roses from her garden with pruning shears that match her gardening clogs. Lester Burnham continues to narrate as the camera switches views. He describes the gay couple who live next door: Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley. Lester is watching from the window as his wife talks to one of the Jims about her roses. The view then switches to Jane, who is researching breast augmentation surgery on the Internet. Jane looks at herself in the mirror before leaving to join her mother, who is outside honking the car horn. As Jane walks out, her mother sarcastically congratulates her on having succeeded at making herself look terrible. As Carolyn nags Lester for making her late, he accidentally drops his briefcase, spilling the contents everywhere. In the car, Lester sleeps in the back seat while his wife drives and Jane sits in the passenger seat. The voice-over continues as Lester muses about how his life used to be different, how it used to be better. Lester then comments, "it's never too late to get it back."